The World Eater
by Taylor1000
Summary: When the Lone Wanderer and the Courier meet, they learn of a new danger that can wipe out everything in the Wasteland. They team up with their companions and go to New York to destroy the Chinese Submarine known as the World Eater.
1. A Meeting of Legends

The Courier slid a large pile of bottle caps across the Roulette Table. He was clean shaven and had long brown hair. He was wearing a Sheriff's hat, sunglasses and a duster that was given to him by Ulysses, with the Old World's symbol imprinted on the back.

"200 Caps on red." The Courier said.

Swank leaned down next to the Courier.

"I thought we kicked you out."

"I thought you casino goons would have learned to stop messing with me. Do you want to discuss this with Mr House again?"

"You can't keep doing this. We'll be broke within a few weeks."

"Swank, I'll give you five seconds to scram before you end up like Benny."

Swank sighed and walked off. The Roulette dealer spun the wheel, and the ball spun around, before eventually slowing down and rolling into the red slot. The Roulette dealer placed 400 caps on the table. A Securitron drove along on its wheel and stopped next to Courier.

"Mr House has requested you pres…"

"Yeah, yeah. I know the spiel; I'll go pay him a visit."

"Sir, your winnings." The Roulette dealer said.

The Courier knocked the caps onto the floor, and within seconds dozens of gamblers were on the ground struggling to pick them up.

"I don't really need much more money."

The Courier smiled and went to the Lucky 38 Penthouse.

OOO

The Courier stood in front of Mr House's monitor.

"What's my newest mission?"

"There have been rumours of a new gang being entering the Mojave Desert. They've recently entered Primm. I want you to investigate them."

"Investigate? Just send some Securitrons to wipe them out."

"I wanted you to investigate them, not kill them."

"House, tell me why I'm really doing this, or I'm going back to the casino."

"They haven't done anything illegal, and in fact came into the Mojave with a large amount of caps which they're using to buy supplies to outfit any recruits they can get. They even came with a military troop transport truck that they somehow repaired."

"And?"

"My Securitrons have reported they include a ghoul hit-man, a super-mutant, a Brotherhood of Steel Paladin, a Mister Gutsy and the Washington Water-Giver."

The Courier opened his mouth but paused. The Washington Water-Giver was a legend by now. A vault-dweller who forced the Enclave from Washington and fixed the water issues there. If he was here, the Courier had to watch out. Then again, most legends turned up to be hoaxes or exaggerations.

"I'll deal with them." The Courier said.

OOO

Twenty minutes later, The Courier was putting his spare ammo into the back of a pick-up truck. He had assembled his personal soldiers and equipment for the trip out to Primm. He didn't expect trouble, but in a fight with a gang led by a living legend, he was better off with too much help than too little. His magnum, a gift from a wandering musician, was at his side. He had the Pimp-Boy 3 Billion on his arm and the Old World Glory on his back along with his favourite Incinerator. He had two pick-up trucks in front of him that had been repaired by Raul with help from Mr House. They were in working condition, making them two of the few working vehicles in the wasteland.

The Trucks had two front seats, three back seats and an open-back. In one truck would be the Courier and Boone sitting up front. Rex, Roxie and their strongest, largest pup, Blaze, sat in the three back seats. In the back were ED-E and an assortment of supplies that the Courier kept in there should he ever need to evacuate New Vegas quickly, such as ammo, food and a lot of spare fuel. In the other truck were Rose of Sharon Cassidy, Arcade Gannon and Raul, with Lily sitting in the back.

The Courier pulled the brim of the Cowboy hat lower to shade his face from the sun, and got into the driver's seat of his truck. He made sure he had his backpack, which contained some ammo, a switchblade, his straight razor Figaro, his Liberator Machete, sleepwear, a Teddy Bear, whiskey, magazines and his Codac R9000 Camera, and started the truck.

"Everyone ready?" He asked.

Boone nodded.

"Both trucks are ready."

"Let's roll." The Courier said.

OOO

The Lone Wanderer popped the cap of a Nuka-Cola and took a long drink. He checked his reflection in his Reflectron, and smiled. He was wearing his lucky shades and his Armoured 101 Jumpsuit. He ran a hand through his short black hair, and scratched his chin stubble. He looked over the supplies and men he had. It was a lot, but definitely not enough. The Group was ten members wide, including him, Charon, Dogmeat, Cross, Fawkes, Sergeant RL-3, Butch, Sean and Elizabeth: the two security guards from Vault 101 who had joined him, as well as a Wastelander who agreed to help him. It still wasn't close to enough, though. The Lone Wanderer sighed, and wiped his brow. It was hot, and he wasn't used to this desert heat. He noticed Cross walking towards him, and turned.

"There are vehicles approaching." Star Paladin Cross said.

"Vehicles? Who the hell has vehicles here?"

The Lone Wanderer turned, and saw a truck coming towards them from far off into the desert. Then a second one appeared, following the first.

"Hide our transport. Then get to cover, I don't want to be out in the open if they're not friendly."

The Lone Wanderer grabbed his weapons, his Zhu-Rong v418 Chinese Pistol, his Wazer Wifle, and Jingwei's Shocksword. He hid by the spokes of the roller-coaster, and waited. The Robotic Sheriff walked past him, doing his usual patrol. The Trucks drew nearer, and the Lone Wanderer could make out the a few figures. There was a large figure sitting in the back of one, and there was what looked to be a cowboy guy and an NCR Soldier in the front of the lead truck. The trucks stopped, and the cowboy and soldier got out. The Soldier whispered something, and the cowboy started walking down the street.

"Water-Giver!" The Cowboy yelled. "I see you're planning to ambush me. I advise you to come out, or make use of your ammo. I've survived a lot of things, and I don't plan on surviving Goodsprings to die in Primm!"

The Lone Wanderer stood up and started walking towards the cowboy, rifle in hands.

"Who are you?" The Lone Wanderer said.

"They call me the Courier. You've come into my city, and I'll tell you this: If you're here to cause trouble, you'll all last a few seconds before you end up as another unnamed grave in the desert. Tell your men to come out."

The Lone Wanderer whistled, and his men approached, as did the Courier's. Both sides had a robot, a mutant, a dog and a ghoul, but they had two more dogs along with a doctor, a female cowboy and a soldier, while he had a barber and a Paladin. The odds were about equal, so he was ready for a fight.

The Courier surveyed them. He sneered slightly when he saw Cross.

"You're Brotherhood?" He asked.

"Partly."

"Why the hell are you here, then?"

"We're recruiting soldiers."

"I don't want Brotherhood in my city. You know what happened to the last Brotherhood members we had? Their Bunker's in pieces."

The Lone Wanderer smiled slightly. The Courier was trying to appear confident, but he was nervous. He wasn't sure what was going to happen.

"We're only here to gather soldiers to deal with some issues. We're not Brotherhood recruiters, just simple adventurers. Nothing else."

"Right, how about we discuss this over a drink? There's no point in having blood shed when it doesn't need to be." The Courier said.

The Wanderer paused, and slowly nodded. The Courier pointed the barrel of his gun towards the Vicky and Vance Casino, and he headed inside.

OOO

The Courier sat at the bar, next to the Water-Giver. He ordered a whiskey, while his new "friend" ordered water, which suited his name.

"So, are the rumours true, Water-Giver? You brought the great and powerful Enclave to its knees, killed President Eden and gave water to the wastes?"

"I prefer to be called the Lone Wanderer. That's what I've always been called."

"You're not alone."

"I used to be, and the name stuck. But yeah, that stuffs true."

The Courier chuckled.

"That doctor out there's ex-Enclave. I've helped the Enclave a few times, actually."

The Lone Wanderer placed on hand on his pistol, but the Courier only seemed amused by the fact.

"Relax. I have a mutant and a ghoul on my team, I hardly agree with Enclave beliefs. I myself am somewhat of a legend here. I took two shots to the head at close range and got buried in a shallow grave." The Courier said, tracing two scars in his head with his index finger "Survived that, so I killed the moron who shot me, got back my package and delivered it. From there, I worked for Mr House and his robot army, until I pushed the NCR and the Legion out of New Vegas. I heard you took an incredibly dose of radiation, so that makes us both zombies, right?"

"That's an impressive tale." The Lone Wanderer said, thinking.

The Lone Wanderer wasn't sure what to make of the Courier. He was odd, but there was cunning in those eyes. He was an odd man, if anything. The Lone Wanderer was a soldier, a commando, a warrior, armed with his knowledge of Science, repair and his Energy Weapons. He followed in his father's scientific footprints, and brought law and peace to Washington, both due to his child-like innocence, his honesty and his father's moral lessons. He got through his trials through hard work and determination. He didn't take chems or gamble. He drank the occasional beer only, unlike the near-alcoholic Courier, because it clouded his mind. The Lone Wanderer was more of a Nuka-Cola and Sweet Roll guy.

The Courier was different. He seemed more cunning, and had a way with words that disarmed you, while keeping the terrifying presence of a cruel leader. He didn't seem to have any particular morals, and would do whatever he needed to succeed. The Courier definitely liked wealth, drinking and gambling heavily and showing off his penchant for old world food by the supplies he had brought. He had let it slip he was an opportunistic cannibal, eating man, ghoul and beast alike. He seemed to enjoy the situation, like it was a game and he was there to have fun. He had even started flirting with Elizabeth the Security guard. He was definitely smart, lucky and charming, though he seemed physically weaker and less enduring than the Lone Wanderer, and didn't have the best senses. He also seemed a bit erratic, with pyromaniac urges and a hatred for the Brotherhood of Steel.

The two were like brothers, both similar, yet incredibly different. This would be an interesting relationship.

"What brings you to Vegas?" The Courier asked.

"I found something. I was out scavenging, for Water Filters and spare generators and things like that."

"Why?"

"I live in a Vault, Vault 101. I convinced them they need a guardian, and they eventually retracted a previous exile sentence. I'm getting older, and wanted to have spare supplies to look after my family when I'm too old to fight."

"What family?"

"I married the Overseer, Amata. We have a three year old daughter and another kid on the way."

"OK, so you were scavenging and…?"

"I found something. There was this emergency radio tower built before the war that was built like a fortress and I was going there to steal its water filter. I found the massive steal door blown open, and about a dozen people inside, all killed by a shots to the head with 5.56mm Rounds. There were caps still left everywhere, and no one was taken, so it wasn't slavers or raiders. There were mines left everywhere to kill anyone else who showed up. I nearly lost my legs to one of them."

"So you're rounding up soldiers to find them?"

"I know where they are. The Attackers lost an Eyebot in their attack, and I managed to reboot its hard-drive. I found out quite a bit of information. The attackers are known as Operation Shǎndiàn. It means Operation Lightning. They're a Chinese group founded before the Great War. They were mostly wiped out, except for something called the Shìjiè Shí Zhě, or the World-Eater."

"What is it?"

"It's like a Vault-Submarine hybrid. It was built to be able to survive indefinitely, and stay off the coast of America, launching nuclear missiles at any points deemed necessary. The Eyebot had a map with points on it, I assume the targets. As far as I'm able to tell, every point corresponds with the location of a Vault."

"So you need to stop them wiping out the Vaults?"

"The Missiles will kill a lot of people. They're designed to destroy vaults, and because of their blast radius they'll hit New Vegas, Necropolis, Vault 101, Vault City, Shady Sands, New Canaan, Little Lamplight. I can stop that"

"Where's the World-Eater now?"

"New York."

"Where's that?"

"At the East Coast."

"So why the hell are you here?"

"There's a facility here, built into a mountain. I'm planning to head up there and see if I can find some mention of the World-Eater."

"The Big MT? I've looked through every terminal there, talked to every Brain and read every book there. There's no mention of any Chinese Submarines."

"None? Damn. I guess I'm heading back East. I'll track them down from there."

"You're leaving already? Well, you're going to need more than the useless men you have now. I'll go."

"I'm fine the way I am."

"You're recruiting. I have guns, two trucks and soldiers. You're going to need the men if you're going after the Communists. I've heard enough lectures from my Book Shoot to know they're evil."

"My men are all I need."

"Vault 21 is in the middle of the Strip. If that gets hit, I die. My friends die. Everything dies."

"Fine. We'll need the men anyway."

The Courier grinned.

"You won't regret this. Well, you probably will, but it's too late now."

The Lone Wanderer heard a yell from outside, and drew his Laser Rifle. He ran outside, followed by the Courier. Butch was on the ground, clutching his bloody face. The Cowboy Girl was standing above him, holding a broken whiskey bottle. The rest of the Courier and his men were facing off in a Mexican Stand-off, guns drawn.

"Calm down!" The Lone Wanderer yelled.

"What happened?" The Courier asked.

"The bitch hit me!" Butch yelled.

"He asked me to go have sex with him for five caps. The little shit should watch his mouth."

The Courier laughed.

"This is going to be fun. Cass, please refrain from hitting them. You should all put down your weapons, and introduce yourself. We're going east. Send someone from the Mojave Express to tell House."


	2. Trust Issues

Commander Shí sat in the Command Centre of the World Eater. He turned to Lieutenant Chí.

"Blue Squadron. How is it doing?" He said, speaking in Mandarin Chinese.

"Blue Squadron is bringing the satellite back. They will arrive within three days, four if the enemy prove an issue. Respectfully, Commander, may I ask what will happen should we fail to make contact with command?"

"We follow our orders, and fire the missiles. "

The Orders that Commander Shí's ancestors had received two centuries ago. He had grown up on this submarine, learning that his purpose was firing the World Eater's missiles. The Missiles that had been unable to be fired due to a broken firing mechanism, that none had successfully fixed before he did. He sent a small party onto land and raided the supplies to fix it. Now, the only thing left was to secure a satellite to make sure orders were the same, and fire. There was always the issue if Command was no more, if Command hadn't survived the two centuries between now and the start of the bombing. Then, he would avenge them, and take down the Vaults.

Commander Shí smiled at the thought.

OOO

The Courier sat in a booth while the Lone Wanderer's Robot Butler gave him a shave. The Butler sprayed water over his chin to clear the suds off his face.

"Thank you, Wadsworth." The Courier said.

He got out of his seat and walked outside. The group had stopped to move a ruined car off the road, and the Courier had used the time to get a quick shave. He saw Lily and Fawkes finally toppled the car off into an alleyway. Raul was just finishing his work on the engine and looked over at him.

"Engine's good, Boss. Should be able to take us to Washington without any problems. The only thing that could go wrong is if you did something stupid, like let Brotherhood men get close to it, like the distance between here and the Water-Giver."

"I know you don't trust them, Raul. But we need them."

"I know, Boss. I just don't like the way that robot looks at me.

The Courier got into his pick-up while Wadsworth floated off into their military truck. Boone turned and looked at him.

"What's the plan with the Washington group?"

"What do you mean?"

"They're Brotherhood. This could be a trap."

"The East Coast and West Coast Brotherhood are different. East Coast helps people, West coast are glorified techno-raiders."

"Revenge can change a lot of people."

"You don't have to explain that to someone who survived two bullets to the head from Benny. I've made sure the dogs don't start trusting the Washington group, and I have a back-up."

"What?"

The Courier chuckled, and pulled out a detonator.

"I planted C4 under the truck's fuel tank. I'm not letting the Water-Giver, or the Lone Wanderer, or whatever the hell he's called, get an advantage over me."

Boone nodded.

"That's smart. I don't trust any of them."

"They have a gangster-barber, a Paladin, a Ghoul Mob Enforcer and a psycho War Robot, as well as the Lone Wanderer, who supported Brotherhood with his two 101 Goons. The only trustworthy ones are Fawkes and the dog, and they just follow orders."

The Courier popped a piece of bubble-gum into his mouth, and started driving.

OOO

The Lone Wanderer sat in the passenger seat of the truck, with Cross driving.

"I've heard of the Courier." Cross said.

"He's the one who wiped out the Slaver Army."

"He wiped out the Mojave Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel. He convinced them to let him join, pickpocketed the three access cards and started the self-destruct sequence. He fought with Enclave for control of Hoover Dam, the Doctor one's a member of the Enclave as well. The Nightkin fought in the Master's Army, the Ghoul maintained a radio for a Mutant Army Splinter at Black Mountain, and the robot's also Enclave. We can't trust them."

"I know that."

"So why the hell are we taking them? With a bit of luck they could take us in a fight!"

"They won't try anything."

"That's what the men in Hidden Valley said. Look what happened to them. This will only lead to death when the Brotherhood discovers him."

"If he tries anything, we can take him. But he won't. The World-Eater's going to wipe out his home as well as ours."

"But…"

"That's the end of the discussion."

Star Paladin Cross sighed and continued driving.

OOO

Sgt Kang peered down the sights of his assault rifle and took a deep breath. He saw a group of twelve hostiles, wearing Jumpsuits with 108 on the back, reinforced by a Protectron and two dogs. They looked incredibly similar, and Kang wondered if they were Androids designed to look exactly the same, or whether centuries of inbreeding gave them the same look. They had fought for several minutes in the abandoned supermarket they were now sitting in and Sgt Kang and Blue Squadron had been forced to abandon the new supply of food they had found. He tilted his head and saw that the hostiles were attempting to defend the food, which were several back-packs filled with Cram, Dandy Boy Apples, Nuka-Cola, Sugar Bombs, Salisbury Steak, Potatoes Crisps, Blanco Mac and Cheese, Instamash and Fancy Lad Snack Cakes. It would have provided a great boost to morale and extended the World Eater's supplies substantially. Sgt Kang snarled, and decided he wasn't willing to let the savages get their food.

The Hostiles were all armed with mines that sprayed bottle-caps, scoped magnums and machetes. They jumpsuits were armoured with pieces of leather armour, and the leader of them wore metal armor and a helmet made out of an Eyebot. The Leader turned his head and looked directly at Kang.

"GARY!" He yelled, and Kang fired as the savages dove into cover.

The bullet bounced off the helmet, and scraped off the leader's leg.

Kang swore. They had lost the element of surprise without any kills, they were outnumbered two to one and his men were tired from moving their newly acquired satellite.

"Gongji!" He yelled.

The Squadron charged forward down the aisle, but the man leading the charge stepped onto a mine and exploded in a mist of blood. A second soldier's neck exploded as a magnum round went through it, and fell.

"Daotui!" Sgt Kang yelled, giving his men the order to retreat.

Sgt Kang turned and ran towards the doors. He felt someone punch him in the back, and realized he had been shot. He gritted his teeth and barrelled out the doors of the supermarket. The Brahmin pulled carriage they had captured was there, with the satellite placed in the back. His men clambered inside and took up shooting positions. The Carriage started moving, and Sgt Kang rolled a grenade inside the doors. It exploded, and he heard a voice yell Gary. Kang started firing into the smoke as the carriage picked up speed. Kang smiled as he saw a leg being blown off from his round.

"Death to Savage!" He yelled in broken English.

All of a sudden there was a flash, and he felt a terrible pain in his eyes. He dropped to his knees and screamed. He realized the Protectron had hit him in the eyes, and he yelled at his men to leave him and go. It was better to die here than return a coward. He pulled out his pistol and started firing blindly, before a dog bit his arm and he dropped it. He swung a fist at the dog but the flat of a machete him in the face.

"Gary!" A Savage said.

Kang tried to pull the pin on one of his grenades and kill them both, but a savage stepped on his hand and stopped him. Sgt Kang tried to shout, but a boot hit him in the face and knocked him unconscious.

OOO

The Lone Wanderer woke up to the sound of gunfire. He turned to Charon, who had taken over driving.

"What's happening?"

"Relax. We have stopped lunch."

"What's with the gunshots?"

"The Courier wanted meat, so he started hunting ghouls."

"He eats them?"

"Apparently, he does."

The Lone Wanderer got out of the military truck and drew his Wazer Wifle.

"I have to go to the bathroom."

He strolled towards a wrecked car and started taking a piss. Boone whistled, and the Lone Wanderer turned.

"If you ever want to have sex again, you should back away quickly."

The Lone Wanderer raised an eyebrow, and began backing away. He noticed a ghoul, crouching behind the car. He aimed his rifle as it growled and fired, blowing the ghoul's head off.

"Thanks." He said.

"Don't mention it." Boone replied, before beginning dragging the ghoul over to a campfire that had been previously been set up.

The Courier appeared and walked over. He pulled out a straight razor and cut off a hunk of cooked meat from the ghoul already over the campfire, before stuffing it into his mouth.

"You want some?" He asked.

"God no. How the hell can you even eat ghoul?"

"Open mouth, place meat inside, chew, swallow. It's remarkably easy."

"You know what I mean."

"In the Wasteland, you do what you have to do to survive. I wouldn't expect a Vault Dweller to understand. Anyway, how long till we get where we're going?"

"We'll be at Washington by tomorrow. I need to pick up supplies. Then, it's only a few hours."

"Perfect."

Boone tapped the Courier on the shoulder, and pointed down the road. A Huge Mole Rat was limping along the road, covered in blood.

"If there's fresh blood, there's got to be a predator out there." The Lone Wanderer said, aiming his rifle.

The Courier started jogging back to his pick-up truck to get his incinerator. All of a sudden, a group of two dozen men ran down from a side street. They all wore hockey masks and carried machetes, with various jumpsuits, suits of metal armour and pieces of combat armour on.

"Exiles." Lily said from her seat in the back of the second pick-up.

"Who?" The Lone Wanderer asked.

"Grandma's dealt with them before. A Tribe made up of boys who didn't do what they were told. They go around smashing up everything. Very nasty, they even attacked Grandma's friend, Tabitha, and broke her robot back in the Master's Army days." Lily said, before smiling. "Grandma's medication doesn't seem to make her as forgetful as it used to. Isn't that good, Dearie?"

"The worst behaved wasterlanders exiled from their various tribes, all put together in one place. This'll give me a lot of fingers." The Lone Wanderer said.

One of the exiles ran forward and kicked the mole rat in the head, before rolling to avoid its attack and slash it in the face. He laughed, and another jumped onto the mole rat's back and attempted to ride it. A third exile lifted up his mask, hacked off a piece of flesh from the mole rat and started eating it raw, blood running down his face. The group surrounded the mole rat and started hacking it to pieces, ripping off chunks and stuffing them into their packs.

"What's the plan?" The Courier said.

The Lone Wanderer was already creeping down the street, running from building to building to sneak up on the Exiles. Fawkes climbed up onto the ruin car and aimed his minigun. Cross, Butch Cass, Boone, RL-3 and Charon took positions behind buildings, and ED-E and the dogs started creeping down the street. Lily, Elizabeth and Sean and Raul begin flanking the Exiles from an alley.

The Courier sighed.

"You're expecting too much from group of junkie psychos." He said, and started walking down the street, directly towards the Exiles.

He drew his magnum and walked up to the Exiles, who were all busy fighting over the meat.

"Get back here!" The Lone Wanderer said in a loud whisper.

The Courier opened his duster and pulled out a piece of dynamite, before lighting the fuse. He placed it on the ground, and started to walk away. One of the Exiles turned and saw him as the Courier got out of the blast range and leaned against a building.

"Who the hell is this?!" The Exile yelled.

The Courier smiled, and held up three fingers.

"Where you from, Cowboy?"

The Courier grinned wider, now holding up two fingers.

"You messed with the wrong people!" The Exile yelled, drawing a shotgun.

The Courier dropped another finger, leaving his middle finger up and pointing it towards the Exile.

"Boom." The Courier said.

The piece of dynamite exploded, and the Courier drew his magnum and fired six shots at the group of Exiles. Fawkes opened fire with his machine gun, and a firefight erupted. Most of the Exiles had been knocked down or wounded by the explosion, and struggled to get to their feet. Most grabbed machetes and charged at the Courier, who was now firing his Incinerator. The bullets and lasers from both the Washington and New Vegas groups cut down the exiles before they could do anything, and the rest began to retreat down the street. The Lone Wanderer aimed his rifle and fired several expertly placed shots, turning four of them to ash. Lily and the dogs charged after the Exiles, catching all but the fastest man and killing them instantly, ripping them to shreds. Boone dropped to his knees and took a deep breath. He aimed his rifle and paused, before pulling the trigger. The Last Exiles dropped, a bloody hole appearing in his chest.

"Nice shot, Boone!" The Courier said. "That was fun, right?"

The Lone Wanderer slung his rifle over his back and began walking over to the Courier. He swung his fist and knocked the Courier into the building.

"What the hell was that? What if they had seen you, and killed the rest of us? What if Boone had missed, and that guy told his friends about us?"

The Courier stood up, his nose bloody. He looked at the Lone Wanderer. The Wanderer was much larger and stronger, but the Courier didn't care.

"What if during your waste of time they had radioed for help? What if you were about to step on a mine while flanking them? What if I had shot you in the head as soon as I met you? The world is full of 'What if's, but the point is that didn't happen? Show next time you hit me, you better make sure I can't get up after?"

"Why the hell did you come if you were only going to cause trouble?"

"Because I didn't want to stay in New Vegas, chancing my life on the hope you can win a fight. I'm a lucky guy, but even I wouldn't take that gamble!"

The Lone Wanderer snarled.

"Next time, we do things my way."

The Courier holstered his magnum and started walking back to the pick-up truck.

"Come on, then, Wanderer. Let's go."


	3. Betrayal

The Convoy of three trucks drove alongside the road. The Lone Wanderer was driving his military truck, listening to Three Dog's voice on the radio. Three Dog was so much better than the Robotic AI Mr New Vegas that Mr House had created.

"Hey children, Three Dog here. Someone has started distributing Rad Away and Food to the poorest of the Wastelands. No, the Followers of the Apocalypse haven't moved in, but it's a new group called the Meta-Human League, led by a Super Mutant known as Uncle Leo. They say they want to change our opinion of Mutants, but if I can't help wondering if they're fattening us up for their lunch. Check them out, Children, but bring a loaded assault rifle just in case. Also, the reports of dog attacks south of Washington, so bring a gun or a lot of doggy chow."

The Lone Wanderer noticed the lead vehicle driven by the Courier had stopped. The Lone Wanderer got out of his truck and walked over.

"What's the problem?" He said, before seeing that there was a Protectron and a Wastelander in one of the buildings, motioning them to come over.

"Should we check it out?" The Lone Wanderer asked, but the Courier was already walking over.

"Gary!" The Wastelander said, and the Lone Wanderer recognized he was one of the clones from Vault 108 and grabbed his pistol.

"Greetings!" The Protectron said. "I am Gary. I have been programmed to translate for this conversation. I learned the language of Gary through much pointing and yelling, and am now ready to help!"

"Gary. Gary?" The Clone said

"We wish to trade with you. Do you have Stimpaks or Med-X?"

"Yeah. Of course.

"Gary." Said the Protectron to the Clone.

"Gary. Gary!" The Clone replied.

"We have a lot of pre-war food to trade. If you have a medic, we would like use of him."

The Courier called over Arcade.

"What's wrong?" Arcade asked.

"They have wounded and are wondering if you can help."

"Our friend lost his leg in a fight against Evil Communists."

Roxie and Sergeant RL-3 both perked up at hearing the words 'Communist' and came over.

"Where's the commie? We can take him, let's attack!" Sergeant RL-3 said.

"Communists? What did they look like?" The Lone Wanderer asked.

"We have one taken prisoner if you care to see. We could trade him for medical care for Gary." The Protectron said.

"Done."

OOO

While Arcade worked on helping the Gary and giving him a prosthetic, the Courier and the Lone Wanderer went to see the Communist. The Lone Wanderer instantly recognized the uniform from his simulation in Anchorage. He was tied to a chair with ropes and silently sobbing.

"That's a Chinese Soldier." He said.

The Soldier looked bad. He was covered in blood, and missing several teeth. His eyes looked badly damaged by a laser blast, and the Lone Wanderer doubted he could see.

"Hello, Mr…?"

"He… Hello?" The Soldier said, looking around.

"Do you speak English?"

"Yes."

"What's your name?"

"Jun. Sergeant Jun Kang."

"Who sent you here?"

"I cannot see. Take off my blindfold."

"You're not wearing a blindfold."

Sgt Kang stifled a sob.

"That machine took my eyes!"

"Who sent you here?"

"Die on a ditch, you pig! You blind me!" He shouted in broken English. "Death to America! Kill pigs! Kill Americans!"

The Courier drew his straight razor and placed the cold blade on the Chinese man's neck.

"If you want a peaceful death, tell the man what he wants to know." The Courier said. "I promise you there can be a very painful death if you don't tell me what I want to know. Very. Painful."

"Who sent you?"

"Commander Shí."

"Where's he?"

"The World-Eater. It's a ..."

"I know what it is. Where is it?"

"I don't know."

The Courier sighed.

"You can't see this, but I've just picked up a very sharp hook that I'm going to put in your mouth and shake around if you don't tell him."

"I swear I don't know, it moves around! It will stop off at New York soon"

"Why are you here?"

"We needed to get a satellite dish to communicate with command."

"Command?"

"Chinese Mainland."

"China's a smoking crater. It has been for centuries"

"No. They would have survived. They…"

"Are we finished the interrogation?" The Courier asked.

"Not yet. How many men are on the World-Eater?"

"I can't tell you." The Soldier said, gaining confidence. "I don't care if you kill me! You can go die!"

The Soldier struggled against his bonds, and the front legs of the chair broke and the soldier jumped up. He ran at the Clone, who aimed his magnum and shot him through the forehead.

"Jesus. Did you have to shoot him?" The Lone Wanderer said.

"Gary." The Clone replied, shrugging.

"What now? The Courier asked.

"Well, he confirmed what I got from the Chinese Eyebot. We're heading to New York after Vault 101."

"Fine."

The Courier turned and saw Arcade at the door, helping a clone with a metallic leg.

"Gary's OK." Arcade said. "He actually makes quite the conversation partner if you can decipher his speech."

"is that all, then?" The Courier asked.

Another Clone appeared, wearing metal armor and an Eyebot helmet. He held out a backpack of old world food to Arcade Gannon.

"Gary." He said. "Gary. Gary, Gary. Gary."

"A gift." The Protectron said. "If you ever need assistance in battle or wish to trade, please make contact with us on our new radio frequency, as we wish to enter the Mercenary Business. A Radio is in the bag that's already tuned to it."

The Lone Wanderer thanked them and gave them the Exile Shotguns in return, and the groups parted.

"Let's go see your home, Wanderer." The Courier said, smiling.

OOO

Vault 101 was doing well. Under Amata's guidance the Vault had become a great trading post. The Lone Wanderer was glad they were letting him in. He had been forced to escape from the Vault, and banned after he rescued it. Still, he was allowed entrance once he convinced them he had gotten rid of his enemies, and they needed the security he could offer. The Lone Wanderer led them into the Vault that he called home.

"Try not to cause any trouble. We'll stay here for the night." The Lone Wanderer said.

"Relax. I'll be glad to meet some new people. Plus, I heard that Vault Dwellers are better in bed, so that's my night planned."

The Lone Wanderer wondered if he trusted him. He decided he didn't.

Amata appeared out of a corridor.

"Hi! How was the trip?"

"It gave me the information I needed."

The Lone Wanderer leaned forward and kissed Amata, before turning to the Courier.

"This is the Courier. He's giving me some help dealing with the issue."

"Hello, Mrs Overseer. It's a pleasure." The Courier smiled, and shook Amata's hand.

"Well, we have quite a few spare beds, so I'll have Christine escort you to the rooms."

Amata called Christine, and Christine Kendall came up from the lower floors.

"Can you show this man to the spare rooms?"

The Courier smiled.

"Hello. You have very pretty eyes. Are you married?" The Courier asked.

The Lone Wanderer rolled his eyes as the Courier winked at him.

"Bye." The Courier said, before walking off.

OOO

Twelve hours later, the Courier was lying in the bed of the Kendall Apartment. Christine lay next to him, as well as several whiskey bottles. The Courier rolled out of the bed, and got dressed. He grabbed his Magnum and the Old Glory. He got a spare bottle of whiskey and took a drink.

"Are you OK?" Christine asked.

"Oh, I was just about to go get us some breakfast."

"Are you sure you don't want to keep me company?"

The Courier thought for a second, and started getting undressed again.

OOO

Raul stood outside Vault 101, drinking a bottle of irradiated water. He needed the fresh air. He couldn't stand the recycled air of the vault. He took another sip, before noticing something in the distance. He grabbed some binoculars from his pack, and looked through them, before swearing. It was a Vertibird. Since the Enclave had been forced out of the area that meant it was the Brotherhood of Steel. Raul turned and ran inside the Vault, down to where his companions were. He knocked on the doors of the bedrooms."

"Boss! Brotherhood are coming!" He shouted.

Boone opened the door.

"Brotherhood?"

"Where's Boss?"

"Last room on the left. He's with a girl.

"Tell the others there's Brotherhood coming."

"Got it."

Raul turned and ran down towards the last door on the left.

"Boss! Brotherhood of Steel!" He yelled.

He opened the door, and saw the Courier lying in bed with a girl.

"Brotherhood!" Raul yelled.

The Courier got dressed and grabbed his magnum.

"Do you think the Washington group set us up?"

"Maybe, but it doesn't matter, we need to go."

The Courier put on his hat, and heard Amata's voice from upstairs.

"Commander Lyons! It's a pleasure to see you."

"Shit. We're going to have to fight our way out."

The Courier took a deep breath, and loaded his revolver.

"Let's do this."

OOO

The Lone Wanderer sat in a chair in his bedroom, watching his daughter sleep. She was lying in her tiny bed, snoring gently. For a moment, he felt at peace. Then he heard Amata greeting Lyons. He swore, and ran towards the stairs. He went down two flights of stairs before reaching the floor the Courier was on. The Courier and his men were armed, and the Courier pointed his revolver at him.

"Did you call them here?"

"No. Well, I told them to visit me when I got to Washington before I even left for the Mojave. That's why they're here."

"You goddamn traitor. You're telling me you forgot that you had Brotherhood Soldiers coming here? Bullshit. Convince them to leave." The Courier said.

The Lone Wanderer nodded, and ran upstairs.

"Sarah!" He said, jogging up to her. "You need to leave."

"What?"

"You need to leave. We're having an issue, and I'd rather we keep it in the Vault."

Sarah raised an eyebrow.

"What issue?"

"There's a family dispute that needs to be dealt with…"

Sarah stared at him.

"You're lying. Something's wrong."

"No…"

"Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong!"

Sarah Lyons and two Paladins pushed past him.

"I'll see for myself." She said.

Another Vertibird landed, and the Brothers of Steel he had planned to escort him to the World Eater started coming in.

"Commander Lyons! Is there an issue?"

The Lone Wanderer heard gunshots from downstairs and started running.

OOO

The Courier aimed his pistol at the doorway, waiting. A Paladin with a bald head entered.

"There's nothing on this floor, Commander…"

He turned and looked at the Courier, his eyes wide.

"You're the… It's the Hidden Valley Murderer…!" He began to yell.

The Courier pulled the trigger and the man's head snapped back, before he collapsed. Another Brother of Steel entered and the Courier swung Old Glory, stabbing the man through the eyes with the wings and twisted to break his neck.

"Let's move!" The Courier said, sprinting upstairs.

He ran up a few flights of stairs, nearly knocking into a Knight who Lilly beheaded with his bladed. The Courier reached the top floor, and smiled to see most of the knights and paladins had already went to several other floors to search for the disturbance. He frowned to see a Knight, Cross and the Lone Wanderer stood in his way. Cass fired her gun and blew out the back of the Knight's head as Cross fired, hitting Cass in the stomach as she yelled. Arcade shot Cross in the stomach, knocking her down. Rex ran over and jumped on her as the Courier grabbed the Lone Wanderer and threw him against a wall. The Lone Wanderer grabbed the Courier and aimed his pistol at the Courier's head.

"You killed my friends!" He yelled.

"Let him go or she dies!" Boone said, as Raul pressed his magnum to Cross' head.

"Kill him!" Star Paladin Cross said, but the Lone Wanderer dropped the pistol and let go of the Courier.

The Courier walked over to the already opened vault door.

"You were going to kill me for defending myself! You invited both of us here, and were ready to let us fight it out like dogs." The Courier said, as his men began jogging over to the trucks. "You Brotherhood are all the same. I'll tell you this: When I stop the World-Eater, I'll send a one of the missiles straight to the Citadel. I heard that's where you're holed up."

The Courier pulled out a detonator and pressed it, as the Lone Wanderer's military truck exploded.

"I won't let a snake bite me twice. Goodbye, Water-Giver."

The Courier turned and ran towards his pick-up. The Lone Wanderer aimed his Wazer Wifle but the Courier had already jumped inside and was now driving off.

"Goddamn!" The Lone Wanderer yelled.

He had to get to the World-Eater first.

OOO

The Courier drove as fast as he could until he was far enough away from the Brotherhood of Steel. He headed south, towards New York.

"Shit, shit, shit!" He yelled.

He took a deep breath, and thought. The Brotherhood had higher numbers and a Vertibird. He needed to find more men, and a Vertibird or a boat to get to the submarine, and he needed to do it quickly. He spent several minutes driving quietly until Boone broke the silence.

"They'll be searching for us in the Vertibird. We need to hide somewhere for a while until they decide stopping the submarine would be better than hunting us down."

The Courier nodded, and saw an underground garage under an apartment block. He turned the wheel and the truck turned into it, followed by the other truck. The Courier killed the engine and got out of the truck.

"Cass, ED-E, Arcade. Watch the door. Boone, there's probably an emergency ladder in the elevator. Get to the top of the building. You're on lookout. Raul, use the radio to see if you can make contact with the Vault 108 guys and arrange a meeting point. Rex, Roxie, Blaze, Lily, Follow me. We're looking for caps. Let's search this place."

OOO

A few hours later, the Courier had amassed everything of use in the apartments. There were a few fission batteries from the Security Room, a few pistols hidden in apartments, some magazines, some booze and a couple caps. Boone had picked off a squad of mercenaries who were hunting a group of a wounded cowboy an hour after the Brotherhood of Steel Vertibird passed over. The Cowboy explained he was a Regulator and Talon Company was hunting him down for killing a Cannibal, whose friend hired them. Talon Company must have been overrated, because they went down easily and now the Courier had an extra three suits of Combat Armour with helmets, two laser rifles and a combat shotgun, a twelve pack of Aqua Pure water bottles and five hundred caps, meaning he now had a sizeable payment of caps and equipment to give the Vault 108 Mercenaries in exchange for their services. Raul arranged to meet them at a town just out of Washington, and the Courier fuelled the trucks. Then, he set off.

OOO

The Lone Wanderer sat in the back of a Vertibird, thinking. Both Vertibirds had spent a few hours searching for the Courier, before setting out to New York. The Courier had betrayed him. He killed his comrade without even attempting to let the Lone Wanderer explain. He had had an explosive under the fuel tank of his truck for longer before that. But that wasn't the issue. If the Courier captured the World-Eater, he would wipe out Washington in his rage. The Lone Wanderer needed to stop him. He was heading down with his comrades to New York where they would secure a base to attack the World Eater from. There was a Super-Mutant Camp Sarah Lyons knew of that they could capture. All the men there were either his or Veteran Paladins from the Lyons Pride to capture it. The Super-Mutant Camp was based out of a subway station, so that where they were going.

"We'll be there soon." The Co-Pilot said.

"Perfect." The Lone Wanderer said, putting on his lucky shades. "Let's take down some super-mutants."


	4. The Subways

The Courier walked into Subtown, a small town built out of a subway station. He held a bottle of wine in his hand, taking a sip every few seconds. He needed to plan what he was going to about this incident. He needed to capture the World-Eater first, and deal with the Lone Wanderer. He wasn't sure what he was going to do with the Lone Wanderer. He might have to kill him, but he wasn't sure. He knew he was an asshole for most of the trip, but he had been loyal. If Securitrons had rolled into Washington from Mr House, he would have protected the Lone Wanderer. The Lone Wanderer had seemed like a decent, if not uptight guy. Then, he ended up calling Brotherhood. He despised the Brotherhood of Steel, but they seemed better in the East. He'd decide later, after he killed the Communists. He planned to drive the trucks down the subway to get into New York quickly. The Subway entrance was guarded by two men armed with shotguns. The Town was made up of

"What's going on?" The Courier said.

"The Subway is out of operation. There's electronic locks that we can't open." A Guard said.

"Why not?"

"The Local Subway Generator is in the Junkyard, west of here. It's been captured by a group of rogue robots."

"If that's the only way I'm getting into New York, so be it." The Courier said.

OOO

The Courier sat in the driver's seat of a destroyed car just next to a fortified junkyard. Boone was crouched in a tower made up of crushed cars, Lily was flanking the robots with his stealth boy and ED-E was going to scan the robot army to see if they could be negotiated with. Raul stood by to fix the generator once they got in. ED-E appeared around the car from a pile of Washing Machines and described the junkyard in several short bleeps.

"Alright." The Courier said, before getting out of the car.

He took a bottle of Scotch from his bag and took a sip, before walking towards the centre of the camp. The Junkyard had a wall of cars and other waste surrounding it, and inside was a large generator, several large solar panels, a homemade windmill and several huts made from wreckage where robots stayed during storms, according to ED-E. Two Sentry turrets that were covered in bullet holes, laser burns and graffiti were to his left and right, aiming at him. Three Securitrons rolled across the junkyard and stopped next to him, which surprised the Courier, as he didn't think any Securitrons were in the East. The Securitrons were all damaged, with a cracked monitor on one, a popped tire with several scratches and scrapes along the body and one had a screen with a crossed circle, like the damaged models from Big MT. They aimed at him, and the Courier noticed nearly all off the robots there were damaged. A passing Mister Handsy had only one arm, two sentry bots covered in bullet holes, an Eyebot covered with charred metal and a RoboBrain with a cracked case. There were robots of all types there, and even a few cyber-dogs that were playing catch with a Mister Handsy. There were even robots he had never seen before that must have been from different parts of the Wasteland, like a Humanoid Brain Bot, a toaster on wheels, and a massive four legged robot with massive guns for a face. The Courier tried to plan what to do next. He could make an EMP blast somehow, but first he would need to get out of here. But, negotiations came first. A Protectron without an arm walked up to him.

"Are you Subtown's ambassador?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Are you the leader?"

"No, I will get the Activist." The Protectron said, before walking off.

The Courier stood still and waited. He relaxed after he saw Boone crouching by a car and a shimmer in the air where Lily was standing, obscured by her stealth boy. A RoboBrain rolled towards the Courier and stopped in front of him.

"Hello, Sir. I am the Activist. It is a pleasure to meet with you, you scum sucking maggot."

"Huh. I'm getting a mixed message here."

"My programming causes me to spurt out kind words to robot-hating humans like yourself. We are not planning to leave our homes. The Generators mean life to us, it means a larger profit to you."

"Listen, I'm just a third party from back West. I'm trying to negotiate a peace treaty between Subtown and your Robot Army."

"We are not an army. We are a community. I hadn't been programmed before the bombs dropped, allowing me to let other robots get free of their oppressive code. We're all damaged somehow and abandoned by every group except each other. We built this place and fixed these Generators to power us, and the humans want to take them so they can power a subway system to make scavenging easier. They've already started draining off our generators using a terminal in their main office."

The Courier took another sip of scotch, thinking.

"Alright, then. I'll make you a deal. I'll fix your human issue if you let me borrow a few of your robots."

"Why?"

"There's a submarine planning to fire missiles and wipe out all America. It's a Communist group…"

"Communists!" The Activist yelled, his arms waving around in the air. "Good deal! Must kill the Communists! Exterminate! You can have any robots that agree to fighting for you!"

Apparently, the Old World Experts had programmed him, along with all other robots, to hate Communists before they programmed them to do anything else.

"What needs to be done?" The Courier asked.

"The Subtown Militia is our real threat. They're not going to negotiate until they have no other options. Their Leader is ex-Brotherhood Outcast, who hates all robots with free-thought. She needs to be taken care of. The Militia's weapons need to be destroyed, in the basement of their Sheriff's office. Finally, you'll need to shut down their terminal that's taking our power, so they'll have to leave us alone or negotiate."

"I'll get it done." The Courier said. "BOONE! LILY! WE'RE LEAVING!" He yelled.

OOO

Corporal Tin took a deep breath and apologized in Mandarin Chinese again.

"Please. I…"

"Everything you had to say is nonsense!" Commander Shí yelled.

Corporal Tin was on his knees, blindfolded with his hands tied around his back. Corporal Shí was holding a large cage covered with a sheet.

"You abandoned the satellite to retreat. If Gold Squadron had not managed to fend off the Super-Mutants that tried to capture it, we would have lost everything."

"Sergeant Kang was…"

"Sergeant Kang died defending the mission. You did not."

Commander Shí pulled off the sheet, revealing a small albino Radscorpion, the size of a cat. He opened the cage, and stepped back. The Radscorpion charged forward, grabbing Corporal Tin's arm with its pincers and stabbing him in the stomach with its stinger.

"Radscorpion Venom is painful. Albino's venom is worse."

Commander Shí stepped out of the bedroom and closed the door. He turned and started walking up to the satellite that was being installed at the Relay centre. Blue Squadron had been completely wiped out, taken out in a shopping centre by savages where Kang was captured and another two men killed, and then lost another two men from a giant mutant bear overturned the carriage they were using. Corporal Tin was the only survivor, who abandoned his mission. Luckily, Golden Squadron had taken down the bear, and gotten the satellite back to the submarine without a single loss. They had even retrieved Corporal Tin, who had been hiding in a building south of the satellite. Corporal Tin let out a piercing scream that could be heard through the walls of the building, and Commander Shí grinned. He walked into the Communication Centre, where four technicians were trying to make contact with Command.

"Status?" He asked.

"We're having no luck. Either our satellite is broken, theirs is, or there isn't a Command anymore."

"Keep trying. We need to find out if orders have changed."

"If we don't make contact…"

"If we don't make contact with command, nothing on the useless capitalist rock will survive. Isn't there anyone who can repair things here?"

"I am the second best repair man here."

"Where's the first?"

"The first was Corporal Tin, Commander."

Commander Shí sighed.

"If we need more time, I'll send a few squadrons onto the coast to wipe out anything out of our blast radius of the missiles."

"Of course, Commander."

OOO

The rope dropped out of the Vertibird and down into the subway. A Paladin grabbed the rope and slid down, followed by another, followed by the Lone Wanderer. The Lights in the subway were off, but he knew the mutants would have adapt was probably in the cross hairs of one now. He ducked, and saw bullets fly over his head. He ran towards the wall, and found the terminal his scout had reported. He went into it, and turned on the subway lights. They flashed on, and the Lone Wanderer aimed his rifle. A Super-Mutant turned and aimed his mini-gun, but the Lone Wanderer fired several well placed shots through his head, dropping the beast. Sarah Lyons dropped down, followed by Cross, another Paladin and Charon. They opened fire, and several super-mutants charged forward, but quickly fell under the combined lasers from the Brothers of Steel. The Lone Wanderer charged forward as he fired the last shot in his rifle and threw it over his back, aiming his pistol. He fired several rounds, hitting a Mutant Brute in the eye and causing his skull to light up, burning off the flesh as its skull fell off. He fired the shots at a smaller mutant with a bumper sword, before holstering his pistol. The Mutant swung, and the Lone Wanderer jumped, jumping just over the bumper sword, before swinging his Shocksword. The Shocksword got stuck in the Mutants skull, and it collapsed. The Lone Wanderer pulled, releasing the Shocksword in a spurt of blood. A Super-Mutant with a super-sledge swung it, knocking a Paladin into a Super-Mutant Brute. The Brute who grabbed her and swung him into a subway wall, snapping her spine. The Brute threw the paladin's body at the Lone Wanderer who dropped to the floor to avoid the body. A Minigun fired and the bullets bounced off Cross' armor, with a single round piercing Cross' armor and slicing through her leg. The Lone Wanderer rolled to the side to avoid a bullet and grabbed Cross, knocking her into cover. The Lone Wanderer dived behind a crashed subway train and reloaded his weapons, and saw a Centaur charging towards him. The Lone Wanderer fired a few laser blasts into the Centaur's head, as it jumped down and swung one of its legs at him, knocking him into the wall. He fired his remaining blasts at its leg. The Centaur collapsed as its leg gave way and attempted to crawl towards him. The Lone Wanderer swung his Shocksword, beheading the Centaur and slashing off several legs. The monster collapsed, and the Lone Wanderer reloaded and aimed his rifle, firing. The Super-Mutants were slowly retreating, and the Brotherhood had the advantage.

OOO

The Courier stood outside the office, talking to a guard.

"I need to talk to the Sheriff. Open the doors."

"No one's allowed enter until the robot issue is dealt with."

The Courier sighed, and held out his arm.

"Touch my arm. Is it made of metal? Then am I a robot? No? Open the goddamn door."

The Guard opened the door, and the Courier walked inside. The door closed, and the Courier was faced by a tall woman who wore red and black power armor and held two plasma pistols in her hands.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Are you the Sheriff?"

"Yeah, who the hell's asking…?" She said, before the Courier quickly drew his pistol and shot the Sheriff through the head.

He turned and grabbed the nearest table, kicking it towards the door and jammed it shut. The Courier turned and opened the door to the basement, walking downstairs. He knocked into a Subtown Militia Soldier armed with a plasma rifle. He quickly drew his staff, Old Glory, and swung it. He knocked the soldier down the stairs and quickly crushed his head with the eagle. He turned and saw several racks of weapons, mostly plasma and laser weapons that the sheriff must have "liberated" from the armoury of the Brotherhood Outcasts the Activist had mentioned. The Courier opened his duster and pulled out several pieces of dynamite and put them into the racks of weapons. He took out his lighter and lit the fuse of one of them. He turned and ran up the stairs and the floor vibrated as he heard the explosion. He found a terminal and the keyboard appeared. The Courier quickly hacked it and turned off all the subway systems, stopping the power being rerouted from the robot's generators. The Courier drew his magnum and threw the table aside, opening the door. He aimed his gun and the Guard dropped his weapon and raised his hands. The Courier tossed his gun aside and smiled. The robots owed him some guards.

OOO

As the Courier turned off the power to the subway in Subtown, the Lone Wanderer swore as the lights turned off. The Lone Wanderer heard a deep chuckle and a minigun start to turn. There was a loud yell and several super-mutants charged forward. The Lone-Wanderer heard a scream and a thud.

"It's got me! It's got…!" A Paladin screamed in the darkness, before going silent after a painful scream.

The Lone Wanderer swore, wondering if he could get to the lights terminal without getting killed, before realising that the lights going out would have probably been caused by a generator blowing, which the terminal couldn't fix. The Lone Wanderer drew his Shocksword and tried to back away to the light from the hole in the roof of the subway system. He knocked into a super-mutant, who grunted. The Super-Mutant swung its fist and he dropped to his knees and ducked under it, before being kicked by the monster. The Courier crawled under the crashed train to avoid the mutant, and checked his injuries. He was missing a tooth and had another one broken, and as far as he could see, he had three broken ribs and a broken ankle. The Lone Wanderer grabbed a stimpaks and injected it, before grabbing a plasma grenade and pulling the pin. He rolled the grenade out and heard the mutant roar, before several thuds and crashes hit the back of the train as the mutant tried to force its way in. The Mutant roared again and the Lone Wanderer rolled out another two grenades, blowing the mutant into a plasma puddle. He crawled out, and saw that three mutants were advancing towards a wounded paladin who seemed to have a broken leg, who Sarah Lyons was dragging. Sergeant RL-3 flew forward towards the mutants firing his flamer, but the Super Mutants slammed it aside. The Lone Wanderer attempted to climb off the tracks but stumbled. Dogmeat ran forward and grabbed him by his jumpsuit, dragging him off the tracks. The Lone Wanderer got to his feet and charged forward. He shot several beams through a super-mutant, blasting his heart out. He rolled to the side and impaled the super-mutant through the stomach, electrocuting the mutant and killing it. The Third Mutant, a Master holding two assault rifles, aimed and fired at the Lone Wanderer. The Lone Wanderer ducked and slashed at the mutant, before rolling to the side and drawing his pistol and firing several shots. The Mutant's chest set alight and it roared, before Dogmeat leapt up and bit the mutant in the neck as Sergeant RL-3 fired it's flamer into the Master's stomach. The Master fell to its knees, and the Lone Wanderer stabbed it through the skull. The Courier saw Sergeant RL-3 fire several emergency flares, lighting up the subway. The remaining four mutants, all heavily armed commandos, looked at the advancing brotherhood and turned, running back down the hallway. One of them fired their laser rifle, but turned and ran after deciding it was outnumbered.

"Look at those goddamn monsters run! Yeah, you goddamn sons of bitches!" One of the Paladins yelled, removing his helmet.

"Set up a perimeter. We'll make two Vertibird landing spots and set up a temporary barracks to attack the World Eater from. We'll kill the Reds and get back to D.C. This is going to be easy."


	5. Capture

The Courier finally felt like everything was right in the world. Behind him was an army. His companions, who were loyal to him to the end since he had first met them in New Vegas, then there were the Gary Clones, who seemed to trust him more than any other non-Gary, and his new robot soldiers. There were the three damaged Securitrons, two Mister Gutsy's missing arms, two Protectrons covered in burns and scratches, two Eyebots covered in scratches, a Sentrybot missing its missile launcher and the prize in the Courier's army: A large "Behemoth" robot on four legs from Midwest. There were also four Super-Mutant Commandoes who had been running through the subway, who Lily had convinced to join up with them after he found they had a grudge with the Brotherhood of Steel. The Commandoes had scoped laser or plasma rifles on their backs, a broad machete, plasma and frag mines and grenades with dual assault rifles in two separate holsters.

This was how the Courier knew he was better than the Lone Wanderer. He included super-mutants while the Brotherhood hunted them. The Courier let in robots while the Lone Wanderer only captured them for valuable technology. The Courier was a bad, greedy person, but he had done as more good for the Wastelands than bad, and he had saved many lives in his life. The Courier climbed into his truck, followed by the second truck, the robots, the Gary Clones and the Super-Mutants. Soon, he would reach New York, get to the Coast, find a boat and capture the World-Eater.

OOO

The Lone Wanderer slung his rifle over his back and walked down the subway tunnel, followed by Butch, Dogmeat and another Paladin. They were scouting the tunnels to make sure the Super-Mutants weren't going to counter-attack his new fort that they would launch scouting missions along the coast until they found the World-Eater. The Lone Wanderer walked along, listening to the Paladin talk.

"So there I was, my armor gone, out of ammo with this massive Radroach approaching. So I draw my knife and fling it wildly. I must have had a twenty one leafed clover on my boot, because it impaled the thing in the brain and killed it. How lucky is that?" He said, smiling.

The Lone Wanderer opened his mouth to say something, before he heard a noise. An engine. He frowned, and looked down the tunnel. Two headlights appeared, and the Lone Wanderer saw the Courier's pick-up truck.

"We need to go. NOW!" The Lone Wanderer yelled.

The Lone Wanderer turned and started sprinting down the hallway. He sprinted until he got to a cover and dove under some rubble, followed by Dogmeat. Butch crawled under as well, and the Paladin ducked inside a broken train. The Lone Wanderer watched as the two pick-ups slowly drove past, followed by the Clones from Vault 108, marching in the perfect unison only clones could. Then there were four super-mutants from yesterday's fight, which the Lone Wanderer should have expected to be working with the Courier. Then, there was an army of robots. There were several robots marching, followed by a giant four legged beast of a machine. They marched past, and relief flooded through the Lone Wanderer as he saw the Courier and his army turned down the tunnel leading to the coast and away from his camp. The Lone Wanderer waited a few minutes, before clambering out of the rubble.

"Shit. That was a Behemoth." The Paladin said. "My father fought them in the Midwest, back when he was in the Brotherhood. They were led by the Calculator."

"What the hell is it doing here?"

"Hell if I know."

"Butch, go report back to Lyons and tell her what you saw."

"What are you going to do?"

"They're only travelling at marching speed. I'm going to track them and see where they stop. If I take out the Courier and rig the Behemoth to explode, the rest will disband."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Go tell Lyons." The Lone Wanderer said.

The Lone Wanderer slung his rifle over his back and started jogging after the Courier's army, followed by his loyal dog, Rex.

OOO

The Courier checked his Pip-Boy. It was already eleven, and he toyed with the idea of stopping for the night. Then again, the Super-Mutants had the endurance to keep going, the robots never slept and his companions could sleep while two drove. Still, it was easier to sleep while stationary, the mutants deserved some sleep after a big battle and the clones needed sleep. The Courier had the Behemoth and half the robots guard the front of the section of the tunnel they were sleeping in, while the two pick-ups and the other robots blocked the back. The Courier used his incinerator and several piles of scrap wood to light a few fires to cook food. The Mutants started a fire and started cooking several chunks of human flesh from scavengers who had stolen weapons from their camp. The Clones only used their fire for warmth, as they kept to eating their pre-war food, like Cram and Sugar Bombs. The Courier put some chunks of Brahmin meat on a stick and put in over a fire, and waited for it to cook. The Courier grabbed a pack of cards and started playing poker with Boone and Cass, while Raul attempted to fix the robots and Lily talked to the super-mutants. Rex appeared next to him, and the Courier looked over and saw Roxie and Blaze sleeping. The Courier started rubbing Rex's back. The Courier and his friends played a few hands, until Boone folded and went off to sleep. The Courier raised the game by fifty caps and Cass placed her last twenty caps on the table.

"You're thirty caps short." The Courier said.

Cass rolled a bottle of whiskey across the table into the other caps.

"You're twenty nine caps short."

"Can't you just let this slide? I have a good hand."

"If you had a good hand, I'd be less likely to let this slide."

Cass frowned, and the Courier gave her a sly smile.

"I'll tell you what." The Courier said. "If you win, you get the pot. If I win, I get the pot, and you sleep with me."

Cass smiled.

"I kind of wish I had a shitty hand, but OK."

Cass' grin grew bigger, and she threw down an eight, a three and a king.

"Twenty one." She said, reaching toward the pot.

The Courier grabbed her hand, throwing down his cards, a king and an ace.

"I've got twenty one in fewer cards with bigger values. I win."

Cass mouth dropped, and the Courier swept his winning into his bag, but grabbed the whiskey bottle and passed it to Cass.

"Here. You might as well be drunk while doing this."

Cass grabbed the bottle and took a sip.

"There's a van with a matress in it down back the way we came. It seems more comfortable and private than anything else around here."

The Courier smiled, and got to his feet. He grabbed Cass' hand and pulled her up. The Courier turned and started following Cass. He waved off a Securitron who tried to stop Cass from passing the car. They walked for about a minute, until they reached a van. Cass pulled the doors open, and the Courier looked inside. There was an old matress inside, a poster on the wall depicting a Security Bot and a magazine called _Lying, Congressional Style_. The Courier grinned, and grabbed Cass around the waist. He pulled her in and their lips met. The Courier closed his eyes and kissed her for about a minute, his tongue swirling around her mouth. The Courier pulled off his duster and boots, throwing it aside. He took off his and Cass' hats, and ran his hand through her hair. He took off her jacket and began unbuttoning her shirt. He pulled off the shirt, then his, noticing a slight burn from Cross' laser, and unbuttoned the clasp on her bra. The Courier grabbed Cass' breasts and squeezed tightly and began rolling her nipples around in his fingers. He pulled her in for another kiss, and heard a growl. He let go, turned around and drew his gun.

"For Christ's sake! I'm shit sick of goddamn dogs infesting this tunnel." The Courier said.

The Courier walked over to the noise, and paused for a second. Crouching inside the back of a car was Lone Wanderer, asleep in across the seats, and his dog. The Dog growled, and the Courier whispered to Cass.

"Cass! Grab your weapon and get over here."

Cass slowly crept over and the dog jumped. Cass fired, knocking the dog to the floor. The Lone Wanderer awoke, and tried to climb out of the car, but the Courier kicked his bare foot at the Lone Wanderer's head, knocking it into the car's steel frame. He kicked several more times, knocking the Lone Wanderer out. The Dog was too wounded to attack again, and the Courier frowned.

"Answer me honestly: Has this ruined the mood?"

"Yeah."

The Courier sighed, and kicked the Lone Wanderer's unconscious form.

"Goddamn. Let's get these guys back to camp!"

OOO

When the Courier brought the Lone Wanderer and his mutt back to the camp, there was chaos. The Super-Mutants recognized him from the fight and tried to kill him, the Clones were confused as to why they were prisoners, and the robots tried to kill the Lone Wanderer as well, assuming he was one of the aforementioned Communists with missiles. The Courier managed to bound both of them and lock them in an abandoned maintenance room with very little to no blood spilt. Then, the Courier grabbed a stool and sat in front of the door. He had to question the Lone Wanderer first, but he wasn't sure whether he would kill him. It would gain him favour with the super-mutants and take another enemy off the list of people who wanted to kill him, but part of him still considered the Lone Wanderer a friend, and a possibly ally against the Chinese. He'd also heard a lot of good things about him, like how he took out a slaver camp at Paradise Falls and disarmed a bomb at Megaton. He would decide later, though. Now, he would wait for the Lone Wanderer to regain consciousness.

OOO

The Lone Wanderer woke with his mind fuzzy and his hands bound. He was lying in a tiny room, next to Dogmeat, who had blood stained bandages wrapped around him. He tried to recall what happened, and realized that the Courier must have caught him. The Lone Wanderer struggled against his bonds, but they were bond tightly around his wrists. Dogmeat barked, and the Lone Wanderer tried to shush him.

"Sssshh. Don't make a sound, Dogmeat."

The door opened, and the Courier entered the room. He picked up the Lone Wanderer, and dragged him out.

"You shot my dog."

"Your dog interrupted my sex. Anyhow, I bandaged him up and gave him a stimpaks. You're welcome for that."

"You killed my men. You should have trusted me to take care of me."

"The Brotherhood wouldn't have let me live. The first one I killed was about to pull the trigger, and the rest were too pissed I had killed their friend."

"There were other options! Those men were heroes, and you killed them! You killed them here and at Hidden Valley!"

"The ones at Hidden Valley were techno-raiders. They didn't help, they only stole technology. The ones here wanted me dead. You know what? It wasn't even the Brotherhood who pissed me off. It's you. You invited me to your home, got my enemies there and tried to kill me when I tried to defend myself."

"You planted C4 on my truck!"

"Yeah, and it ended up saving my ass, didn't it?"

The Courier hoisted the Lone Wanderer up and tied him to a chair.

"If you want to save lives, you need to tell me where the Brotherhood of Steel is, and how many there are. I don't want to fight, I want to avoid them."

"Or what? You're going to beat me?"

"I'm not strong enough to beat you. I'm a lightweight! But, I have my straight razor. Figaro, named after an old world play. I read it once, wasn't good. Anyhow, I'm giving you this choice because you're my… friend would be a good word, but it implies we're on good terms. Let's go with Comrade."

"We're on the first right back the way you came. We have my friends and a Vertibird full of Paladins. We have another Vertibird of various Paladins from all over the wastes."

"Thank you. That information will be of use."

"So you'll leave this?"

"Leave this? I'll try avoid you while getting to the World Eater, if that's what you mean."

"So cut off my ropes."

"I can't do that. I won't kill you, though. I'll leave you here, untie Dogmeat and let him chew through your ropes. It'll give me the time to get out of here. Take your time as well, because I haven't decided whether I'm going to finish what I was doing with Cass."

The Courier turned and untied Dogmeat.

"Tell your dog not to bite."

"Dogmeat, Stay!"

Dogmeat sat down on the ground, growling. The Courier turned and walked out the door.

"I'll be seeing you, Water-Giver. It's been a pleasure."

Hours later, the Lone Wanderer walked along the tracks back to his camp, followed by Dogmeat. The Courier and his men were long gone, and he needed to get to the World-Eater. He had considered letting the Courier deal with it, but he needed to make sure it was destroyed. He didn't know if the Courier would even be able to capture the World Eater, and he didn't even trust him not to use the submarine to gain more power. He walked into the Brotherhood camp, and saw a third Vertibird on the landing pad.

"I'm back. The Courier's gone. Where's the new men?" He asked.

"They're eating. Not much special about them, except a Scribe with them. She volunteered to come, and wanted to meet you personally as soon as she arrived." Sarah Lyons said.

The Lone Wanderer raised an eyebrow, and saw a Scribe walking towards him. She was wearing scribe robes and had a young face and a hood hiding black hair.

"Who are you?" The Lone Wanderer asked.

"It's Veronica. Veronica Santangelo. I'm from Hidden Valley, New Vegas."

"So that's why you're here? Vengeance for your dead friends?"

"Not all my friends died. Some just became murderers."

The Lone Wanderer raised an eyebrow, but decided not to question it."

"I know you want revenge, but violence against the Courier is a last resort. Got it?"

"Got it."

The Lone Wanderer smiled at her, and went off to find a bed.

_Just a small note from the Author. If you could take the time to review, I'd love to hear suggestions. Should there be more Courier, more Wanderer, more smut, more violence or more talking? Anyhow, thanks for reading._


	6. The Bishop Kid

Sergeant Ang moved quickly through the streets of New York, followed by his five men. They were known as White Squadron, and their orders were to eliminate any Wastelanders who looked to be militarizing or had any information about the World Eater until they were given orders to retreat, or after three weeks. Ang knew, of course, that they wouldn't be allowed to retreat, as they were simply martyrs to die stopping any savages escaping the nuclear missiles by going out onto the sea. When he got his orders, he stole the Launch Key. Without the Launch Key, the World Eater couldn't fire until he got back, in which case he would plant the Key on Commander Shí. It was genius. His Stealth Armor shimmered, and he noticed two trucks driving up the street. He rolled to the side and hid behind a building. He didn't have to because of the stealth armor, but he was better safe than sorry. Following the two trucks was a massive robot beast, several robots and soldiers. They were the remainder of the American Military, probably. At least, that's what Ang thought. So he quickly decided to tail them. Then, pick them off one by one.

OOO

The Courier leaned against a chunk of rubble, aiming his magnum. His army had continued on, leaving him with a damaged Eyebot. Boone had noticed a group following them, and the Courier was attempting to take them out by hiding, waiting for them to pass while following the army and take them out. He noticed a shift in the light, and turned and fired a few shots. Blood spurted out of thin air and the air shimmered, revealing a young soldier wearing Chinese Stealth Armor. The Courier took another shot, blowing out the back of his head. The Courier watched the air and fired another few shots. He took out another by coincidence, and a third as the soldier opened fire, and the Courier identified his location by the muzzle flash. The Courier rolled over to him and searched him for any extra ammo, but only found a key and 5.56 ammo, but he took both just in case he needed them. The Courier took a shot to the chest and collapsed. Three soldiers surrounded him, aiming their guns. The Courier took a deep breath, and grabbed a piece of dynamite. He threw it directly above him, as high as he could, and shot it.

OOO

The Lone Wanderer led his squad through the subway. They were heading towards the coast where they could see if they could spot the World Eater and plan on from there. There was the Lone Wanderer, Santangelo, Cross, Sergeant RL-3, Charon, Dogmeat and another Paladin. The Lone Wanderer paused, and noticed a trip wire stretching across the tunnel.

"Wait." The Lone Wanderer said.

The Lone Wanderer stepped across the tripwire, and followed it until he found where it was connected to a rigged shotgun shell, set to explode. He disabled the trap, and the group continued. The tunnel was rigged with traps, like mines and tripwires.

"There must be another gang in this tunnel. Keep your weapons loaded and ready."

They continued for another minute. The Lone Wanderer saw a ruined bus, and swept his wrist to light it up temporarily with his Pip-Boy. A short growl broke the silence, and a ghoul started running straight towards him. He raised his rifle and fired, shooting it through the head. Another ghoul appeared, and then there was a rush of dozens of ghouls charging at them. The Lone Wanderer dropped to his knee and aimed his gun, firing another few blasts. He slowly started backing away while firing his gun, and rolled out a plasma grenade which took down another two ghouls. Sergeant RL-3 charged forward with his flamer and incinerated a new wave of them. The Paladin fired a mini-gun and took out a few more ghouls, as two of the remaining three took several shotgun blasts to the head from Charon, and Dogmeat tackled the last one and bit out it's throat. The Lone Wanderer took a breath and reloaded. He took a bottle of Nuka-Cola and took a long drink. He dropped the bottle cap into his bag and threw the bottle against a wall, shattering it. Then, he continued walking.

"You shouldn't be here." A Voice said.

The Lone Wanderer dropped to his knee and rolled to the side, aiming his weapon. A Kid was sitting on top of a crashed subway train.

"This is Feral Ghoul Territory. The only thing stopping them from spreading through the tunnels is my traps. The Blast didn't kill those hiding down here, but the radiation made them ghouls." The Kid said.

"Who the hell are you?" The Lone Wanderer said.

"I haven't seen Brotherhood here. Why are you here?"

"I asked you first."

"I'm Max Bishop. Most people just call me Bishop. Why are you here?"

"We're trying to stop a submarine. Do you live here?"

"Yeah. I came here from New Reno a year ago, when I turned fourteen. My Dad said I should travel the wastes, because he's half tribal. His Dad was from Arroyo and his mom was the daughter of a Mob Boss. What's a submarine?"

"It doesn't matter. You should leave."

"This is my home. If anything, you should leave."

"Kid, don't get on my nerve. Get the hell out of here."

"I know this place like the back of my hand. For a few caps, I can show you around."

"How many caps?"

"Five hundred."

"Not a chance, kid."

"There's three tunnels down the path. One's filled with ghouls, one's irradiated. Do you really want to take your chances with this?"

"Four hundred caps."

"Four fifty. Your armor isn't cheap, you can afford it."

"Fine." The Lone Wanderer said, and opened his pack. He poured what he thought was five hundred caps into a plastic bag and tied it closed. He threw the bag up to Bishop, who smiled, and started counting. After about a minute, he nodded.

"Close enough. I'll make sure when we stop."

"OK, Kid. Which tunnel should we take?"

"None of them. One's irradiated, one's ghoul filled and the other is booby-trapped with mines. I saw the tail end of a raider group, and some triplets put down mines."

"Were the triplets wearing Vault 108 Uniforms?"

"Yeah. You know them?""

"Yeah. So where do we go?"

"There's a hidden stairs here. We can get to my house, I'll pack some stuff and I'll take you to the coast. Then, you can find the submarine."

Max Bishop jumped down, and dragged away a piece of cardboard painted grey, revealing a stairwell. Bishop disappeared upstairs, and the Lone Wanderer followed.

"Do you know anything about New York?"

"No. Is there anything important?"

"Not much. It's as filled with raiders and radiation as the next city. Then there are the gangs. There are the Vault Super-Mutants who moved in from the North, there's a few Exiles, psychopath's exiled from there camp, who raid the towns for booze and chems, there's the Vault 5 Pack, Vault 72 Sniper Squads and the ."

"I know the mutants and the exiles. Who are the others?"

"I'm not exactly sure about Vault 5 Packs. All I know is, the other locals say that when Vault 5 opened, a single human family came out, followed by several dozen dogs. The Humans don't speak English, but they seem to be able to communicate with the dogs. They're basically just a massive dog pack who simply spends their days hunting. I sometimes trade meat with them for weapons. The Vault 18 Snipers are a group from Vault 18. I'm friends with one of them. From what she told me, they were an experiment, with a group of top athletes and top marksmen. They were given a limited amount of food to create a fight between the marksmen and athletes, to see whether guns and training would beat melee and incredibly trained bodies. The vault dwellers found out, killed the overseer and as soon as they were able to go onto the surface, started raiding for supplies. Now, through decades of marksmanship and training, their descendants are trained killers. They're mercenaries, hitmen and raiders."

Bishop climbed out into the streets and jumped onto a street ladder leading up to a house. He began climbing and climbed into a hole in the wall. The Lone Wanderer followed, and entered the house. There was a matress with a blanket on the floor, and a large backpack leaning against it. There was a large crossbow on a bookshelf filled with various Grognak the Barbarian Comics. Bishop packed the comics into his backpack, grabbed his crossbow and a sheath of arrows.

"I'm ready." He said. He grabbed the ladder and slid down it.

"Let's get moving."


	7. Making Friends

The Lone Wanderer walked along the road, following Bishop. Every few minutes, Bishop would duck through a side street or clamber through a building, narrowly avoiding a patrol of raiders. The Lone Wanderer stopped, hearing an explosion down the street.

"We should probably try to avoid…" Bishop started, but the Lone Wanderer headed towards the noise.

"Yeah, cool. Ignore your guide. That won't kill you." Bishop shouted after him.

The Lone Wanderer jogged along, and came across several bodies. All of them were wearing Chinese Stealth Suits, which the Lone Wanderer stole and gave to the Paladin to carry. The Lone Wanderer stopped, noticing one of the bodies was wearing a duster, like the Courier. He turned over the body, and checked it for a pulse. The Courier was still alive.

"We need to get him to shelter. Where's the nearest safe place?"

"You're in New York City. No where's safe. Still, there's a nearby building that's safe enough. We'll head there. Pick up the Cowboy and follow me."

OOO

The Courier woke up with a start. He was naked in a bed with dirty sheets, surrounded by empty bottles of Nuka-cola and bullet shells. It was too much of a shithole to be heaven, so was still alive. That was good. His arms were tied to the bedposts by a rope, but he noticed a reflectron at the end of the bed. He reached for it, and after several attempts managed to pick it up with his toes. He twisted around and managed to look at himself. There wasn't any major damage, so he must have been knocked out by the shockwave from the dynamite. The Courier smiled, and smashed the reflectron against a wall. Glass shattered, and a shard flew out and onto his wrist. He twisted his hand and grabbed it. He began cutting through the bonds, before a familiar figure walked in, wearing a 101 Jumpsuit.

"Water-Giver. Were the assassins your guys?"

"No. I examined them, they're Chinese."

"Huh. You found me when I was knocked out?"

"Yeah."

"So, am I a prisoner, or are you going to cut me lose?"

"I can't let you go."

"Are you serious? I let you go when I captured you."

"You're simply an unknown factor. If I let you go, you'll attack the World Eater, and either die and scare them off to somewhere safer they'll fire from, or capture it and end up doing something stupid. Anyway, you threw a wrench in their plans. I found a launch key on one of the Chinamen. He must have been one of their commanders. The rest of the Communists will need to forge a new launch key, which'll so I guess I owe you one."

"Huh. Who's the kid?" The Courier asked, noticing that there was a teenager leaning against the doorframe.

"He's our escort." The Lone Wanderer said, turning to look at Bishop.

"So the Cowboy's still alive. Are we just letting him go or is he staying with us?"

The Courier opened his mouth to speak, but the Lone Wanderer stopped him.

"He's our prisoner now."

"Why?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Fine. We need to go. There's a group of exiles coming."

OOO

The Lone Wanderer walked along the street, hands tied, next to the Lone Wanderer.

"So, are we just going to walk in silence? Yes? No?"

The Courier stopped, and Veronica shoved him forward.

"Keep walking."

"Are you still pissed about the whole Hidden Valley thing? Come on. I gave you a dress! A very nice dress. It was owned by a famous singer from before the Great War. All our adventures meant nothing?"

Veronica sneered, and pushed him forward.

"Keep moving." She said.

"They deserved to die." The Courier muttered.

"You're a prisoner of war. Stop talking." The Lone Wanderer said.

"I'm not going to be in chains for long, Water-Giver. I'm a survivor. Do you know what the three best things I've ever eaten were? The best was the steak and scotch I had after capturing Hoover Dam, because victory tastes good. The second was the first Fancy Lad Snack Cake I ever had, when I was six, because I didn't get nice food handed to me, like you. But the third best was the weird one. It was a mole rat's eyes. See, I was guarding a water truck that got hit by a raider's missile. It overturned, and I got stuck under it. I had water from the truck, but I needed food. I managed to stretch out and get a dead raider's pack, and it was filled with Salisbury Steak. I survived for several weeks, but then I started to die off a much slower death. Malnutrition. I was dying of goddamn malnutrition. Then, a mole rat crawled under the truck to try eat me, and I managed to beat it to death. I don't know whether it was instinct, but I had the desire to eat its eyes. I gouged out the mole rat's eyes and ate them. There are a lot of vitamins and minerals in eyes, so it was the best thing I ever ate. A Merchant caravan rescued me a few days later."

"Why do I need to hear this?"

"Because I'm a survivor, and you should know that this isn't going to be the end of my days, a prisoner to some goddamn Washington myth."

The Lone Wanderer noticed a muzzle flash from the top or a building, and a second later he heard the gunshot. The bullet thudded into the tarmac next to him, and he knocked the Courier to the floor and dropped.

"Shit! Sniper, stay down!"

The team moved into cover as another shot was fired. The Courier was left trying to take cover behind a half-destroyed wall, next to Bishop.

"Hey Kid! Kid!" He yelled over the sound of bullets. "Who the hell's firing on us?"

"None of us are dead, so it's not Vault 18. It's probably someone trying to score a few sniper kills to see if they can join Vault 18."

"How much is the Water-Giver paying you?"

"The Water-Giver? You mean the 101 Guy?"

"Yeah. Just humour me here."

"Half a thousand caps."

"Five hundred? I come from New Vegas, where my boss could drop ten times that and not bother to pick them up. Tell you what, if you help me out, I'll give you ten times that."

"I wish I could, but I already took the caps and I'm too honest a person."

"Seriously? A teenager who's honest? Goddamn it, what are the odds?!" The Courier said, shaking his head.

A bullet whizzed past and hit a paladin in the ankle and he collapsed. Bishop ran out to help him, and the Courier took his opportunity. He waited until the sniper fired, and charged forward out of cover. He managed to turn around a corner and avoid another bullet, but his foot caught on a wire sticking out from some rubble and collapsed into a crater. He grabbed the wire and started to cut through his bonds to cut through and the bonds fell off. The Courier smiled, and climbed through the building the sniper was firing from. He started walking up the stairs. After a minute of climbing, he came out to find a sniper leaning out the window. The Courier crouched and moved forward slowly. He leaped forward and grabbed a Trench Knife from the sniper's sheath and stabbed him through the back, twisting and pulling sharply. The knife ripped out a chunk of flesh and stabbed the sniper through the back of the head. He grabbed the sniper rifle and aimed down his rifle. He tipped the brim of his cowboy hat and adjusted his sunglasses.

"Water-Giver! Drop the supplies you took off me and my weapons or I take you down!"

The Lone Wanderer looked up at him in disbelief.

"You're not a good shot, Courier."

The Courier fired, and a bullet went through his ankle. The Lone Wanderer yelled, and fell over.

"No, I'm not the best shot, but how lucky are you?"

The Lone Wanderer tossed a backpack forward, as well as Old Glory and the Courier's revolver, before turning to leave.

"Now throw your packs forward and get the hell out of here. Do you have Vera's dress in your bag, Santangelo? Because I want it back."

The Lone Wanderer did as he was told, and the Courier smiled. The Courier paused, noticing several maps sprawled across a desk next to the dead sniper with two silver keys on top. He read the title, and thought for about a second. This would be an advantage. He noticed a radio next to the sniper's corpse and grabbed it. He went through the radio channels until he found his companion's radio frequency.

"Courier, you deal with the assassins yet?" Boone asked.

"Yeah. I need you to come back to where you left me. I'll meet your there. Take your time, I have some stuff to do first."

"Like what"

"It doesn't matter."

The Courier smiled and saw noticed the Mister Gutsy's combat initiator as it turned away. He smiled and pulled the trigger.

"This is going to be fun."

OOO

"How the hell did he escape?" The Lone Wanderer said angrily, injecting a stimpaks into his ankle. He was sitting with his squad next to a large Yao Guai and a merchant named Boris that Bishop knew. He watched as the sun went down.

"Everything will die!" Sergeant RL-3 said from his position on the floor.

Sergeant RL-3 was lying on the floor with his arms tied up with ropes, weighted down with scrap metal in plastic bags. The Lone Wanderer kicked it, and turned to the Paladin.

"How long will it take to fix his Combat Initiator?"

"About an hour more."

"So…." Boris said in a thick Russian Accent. "Is the Brotherhood planning to set up in New York?"

"No."

"That is good. A lot of my income comes from recharging energy cells for survivors. I need the income."

"So, it's just you out here? A lone merchant without any protection?"

"Pavel is all the protection I need. I brought him from Washington!" Boris said, patting the bear's snout. "So where are you going?"

"We need to head back to the Metro. We'll meet up with the Lone Wanderer's friends, and resupply. I'll take as many men as he could spare to the coast, via Vertibird. Since I know where we need to go, we won't have to waste any fuel scouting the area, which is what they wanted in the first place."

"Can we just stop talking?" The Lone Wanderer said.

The Lone Wanderer lay down, and leaned his head against his hands and within a minute he fell asleep.

OOO

The Courier waited two hours after the Lone Wanderer fell asleep until the rest of them were fast asleep. Then, he crawled slowly towards the camp. After an hour of slowly crawling towards to camp to avoid waking the Lone Wanderer, he arrived. The Courier looked at all his enemies. He didn't want to kill the Lone Wanderer, but he needed to stop the Brotherhood from capturing the World Eater. That wasn't something that would be good for America. He drew a piece of C4 from his inside duster pocket and rigged the deactivated Mister Gutsy to explode when he pressed his detonator. He drew his straight razor, Figaro, and kneeled over a Paladin, and decided to kill him. The Brotherhood needed to be stopped, and he was the most expendable of their group. He grabbed his mouth and quickly slashed his throat. The Paladin struggled for a minute, and went over to eliminate Cross. He didn't want to kill Santangelo or the Lone Wanderer, because they had spent a lot of time together, and he didn't know enough about the ghoul. He kneeled over Cross, and placed his blade against her neck. Cross' eyes opened and grabbed his hands, and threw him off her. The Courier swore, and flinched as he heard a growl. He turned and saw a large Yao Guai. He slashed his knife and rolled to avoid a slash of its arm. He fired a few shots into the Yao Guai's arm and it roared. Then, the Courier turned and started running.

OOO

The Lone Wanderer woke to the sound of a roar. He drew his pistol and saw a large bear swipe it's paw at Charon. Charon ducked, and grabbed his combat knife and slashed at Pavlov. He stabbed it through the neck and stabbed upwards and swirled it, killing it.

"We have a loss." Cross said. "Fletcher had his throat slit. It was the Courier, he nearly got me as well."

"Goddamn!" The Lone Wanderer yelled.

He looked around. Sergeant RL-3 wasn't damaged any more than he had been, and the only loss had been the Paladin. Bishop was consoling a distressed Boris who stood over his dead pet, and the rest of his men had formed a circle around them to make sure the Courier didn't approach.

"Let's get moving. We can't spend any more time in the open. We'll get back to camp, capture the World Eater, and then we can deal with the Courier."

OOO

The Courier had done his job. The Lone Wanderer's group were scrambling back to his camp, away from the area. He laid out the maps he had found, looking at the location. It should be just in the building across from him. He loaded his pistol and started walking. He walked into the large office, and found the reception. He took a large key ring full of keys in case there were any locked doors, and made his way down to the basement. He unlocked the hidden panel in the floor, and went down to the basement. He smiled as he found what he was looking for, and quickly radioed his squad the location. This was going to be easier than he had expected. Thank God for Strausser and Wolstencroft.


	8. The Path to War

_One Week Later…_

In the Courier's life, he had always tried to help people. He helped himself first and could be cruel, but he saved lives. To quote a Pre-War quote from Lying, Congressional Style, "The Ends justified the means." The Courier made hard choices that saved lives. He had sacrificed a family in Vault 34 to keep the Farms active and stop people dying of starvation. He had put a Dictator in power to stop a weak NCR and a foolishly naive Yes Man, and saved lives because of it. Many called him heartless, which was actually incredibly accurate. That was the only reason the Dragon Kiss hadn't killed him: His heart had been replaced by a machine in the Big MT. Poison didn't harm him. The Brotherhood of Steel was attempting to capture New York, and he sure as hell wasn't going to let that happen. He wasn't going to let a bunch of religious techno fanatics who insisted only they deserved technology take over. The World Eater was his. It couldn't fire because of the hard drive, but he'd get it back. He had requested two battalions of Securitrons from New Vegas, and now he knew what he was going to do. He walked out onto the dock where all his soldiers waited, and looked at them. The World Eater was docked behind him. The various mutants, robots, humans and ghouls looked up at him. The Army was made up of the Junkyard Robots, the Securitrons, the four Super-Mutants,, the clones, his companions and a few token Chinese Soldiers who took up his offer of joining them.

"We are the last hope to stop the Brotherhood of Steel. If we allow them to take New York, they can capture the entire East Coast. They'll wipe out anyone who resists. This cannot happen. The Brotherhood are soldiers, not leader. All they do is kill. Look at Washington! They call it a Beacon of the Old World, but the Old World is gone. We need to take control of this city for the greater good. Our enemies need to be stop. The Water-Giver didn't even do anything, he just finished the work of countless other scientists and took all the credit. The Brotherhood of Steel is made up of vault dwellers and those born into the Brotherhood. They grow up protected with an easy source of food and no real knowledge of the wastelands, and act like they can just conquer us and take over. We're the ones who'll win today. We've been told we're inferior our entire lives. We have the Super-Mutants from the metros who were hunted by the Brotherhood. They took the metro fort and used it as their own without any regard for the mutants, who were becoming peaceful traders and farmer, but had their entire livelihood destroyed. The Brothers of Steel stormed the metros and killed without thinking just caring they were mutants. The Robots here were all called defective and sent to a junkyard and hunted for their power, their life source to make their lives easier. The Securitrons were created by Mr House, who was orphaned and cheated out of his fortune, and achieved power through hard work. The Clones had their vault wiped out and were hunted for being "abominations" according to the guy who didn't even try to communicate with them. I grew up in the wastes, doing what I needed to survive, and worked as a Courier to get enough caps to survive. We have been victimized our entire lives, and now it's our time to strike back and conquer New York. You have orders to attack any Brothers of Steel and their allies. I'll ally ourselves with the local tribe, and we'll take New York. It's time to win. It's time to conquer! It's time for victory!

The soldiers cheered and fired their guns into the air. The Courier smiled, and began walking back to the bridge of the World Eater to make plans.

OOO

The Lone Wanderer yelled loudly and punched a half-broken window, shattering it. A Brotherhood Scout had reported that the World Eater was docked at the port, with the Courier in the bridge. He must have survived the poison and disabled the detonator. There were also reports of Securitrons from the West entering New Vegas. The Lone Wanderer needed to take over New York first, and stop him. He…

"Are you OK?" Bishop asked. "It might just be me, but there's something odd about staying in a crashed train and yelling."

"Yeah, I know. I thought you were going over possible ambush locations with the new Paladins"

"Lyons wants me to brief the commanders on the local tribes. Let's go."

They walked to a large table with a pre-war map of New York sprawled across it. Sarah Lyons, Veronica Santangelo, Cross and two Paladins sat around it.

"Well, we're all here. Can I start?" Bishop asked.

"Go ahead. Who do we have to deal with?"

"There's the Subway Super-Mutants. They're a generally isolated group, made up of Super-Mutants and a few ghouls. The Super-Mutants are mostly from Vault 87, but there leaders are said to be ex-soldiers from the West, whose master died and now they're looking to settle down. They keep to themselves, and extract a large toll to anyone passing through. They trade with a rare few humans, but they need a lot of ammo and food to survive, so whoever they trade with get rich. They're much more… sophisticated then the Washington ones, if the stories Paladin White is telling me are true."

"I don' lie." One of the Paladins said, presumably Paladin White.

"I'd normally recommend an alliance with them, but since you attacked them, that's unlikely. They tend to hold grudges. There's the Vault 5 Dogs, who are too close to the coast to risk making contact with. They'll probably only act as a pest to the Courier's men. There's the Vault 18 Snipers. They won't be any help if you're attacking, but send them into enemy territory and they'll be the best guerrilla soldiers you've ever seen. There are the invaders from the Republic of Dave. I don't know much about them, but they're three guys and a mutant who set up a small fort in an old Clothing Store. They won't help in a fight much, but four extra guns are still an advantage. There's the NYPD. They're holed up in an old police station and the surrounding buildings. They base their lives on pre-war stories of guys who fought raiders and criminals, and have a small fortified town. They're small, but they're good at what they do. Then there's the Exiles. They're led by a fearsome guy in power armour. Some say he wiped out a Brotherhood base to get it, some say he's ex-Brotherhood, some say he's actually an alien. It doesn't matter, all you need to know is you should probably take him out. There's the Uptown Heights, a group of rich people who live in the one of the skyscrapers that survived from private vaults built into the bottom of their homes that are located at the bottom of the skyscraper, so they survived. They're rich, but they're not the best fighters. That makes up most of New York."

"I won't ally with the Exiles. But the rest seem like reasonable allies."

"The Courier is trying to ally with them as well. If I were you I'd be quick about negotiating."

"I'll send envoys. Hell, I'll go myself."

As a Vertibird landed, Wadsworth came out and raced towards the Lone Wanderer.

"Just in time. Wadsworth went with the Vertibird to pick up the new men, so he could get my T-51b Power Armour, and some other stuff."

Wadsworth gave the Lone Wanderer his stuff, and sent him back to the Lone Wanderer's room. The Fort was made up of rooms, which were just carriages of crashed trains divided by curtains. The Lone Wanderer went to his and put on his suit, before getting his sword, pistol and Wazer Wifle. He took a deep breath

OOO

The Courier was packing supplies in the World Eater for his visits to the various tribes the Chinese Scouts and Super-Mutants told him of. He wore the usually Courier's Duster, Cowboy Hat and Lucky Shades, and put several pieces of dynamite in his duster pocket, as well as Figaro, his straight razor he had pickpocketed off a King. He put Old Glory on his back and holstered the Mysterious Magnum, and decided to take his All American Marksman Carbine in case of a battle. He got a satchel and put in some ammo, whiskey, his Stealth Suit Mk II, his lucky Teddy Bear, some Fancy Lad Snack Cakes, Dandy Boy Apples and some canned preserved chicken from the World Eater's stores. He wasn't sure what chicken was, but it tasted OK. He smiled, and walked to the truck to head to the subways.

OOO

The Subways were dirty, dark and cold. The Courier walked next to Don, Rex and the three other super-mutants.

"How do you even survive down here? What do you have to trade?"

"It has been very hard surviving here, but we manage. We are hired out to deal with Exiles by the NYPD and Uptown Heights. The unlucky ones have to sell gear from the better years. I sold my minigun and a power armor helmet I took of my first kill. Life is hard, but we will survive. We always do. We have farms in some of the more exposed subways so sunlight can get at them, and we can scavenge in the more irradiated zones. Many considered becoming raiders, but we are peaceful people. We have no desire to kill."

They reached a large train that was boarded up, with two super-mutants on top.

"Don!" One yelled. "You survived the Brotherhood attack! And you captured one of them, and their dog! Well done."

"He's a friend, Patrick. He has an army of robots to fight the Brotherhood."

"So why's he here?"

"He wants our support."

"Huh. Well, you better clear it with the boss, Roy and Romero."

The Super-Mutant pulled on a rope, pulling up a corrugated gate. The Courier walked in, and it closed shortly after. The inside was full of Super-Mutants and Nightkin. Several were pushing a train down the subway to bolster the wall, while others farmed in the gardens that were set up in the areas where the tunnel's roof had been destroyed, and sunlight came through. Don led the Courier to a large Super-Mutant, standing at around 15 feet tall, holding a comically small knife. He appeared to be skinning a Brahmin.

"This is the Roy. Where's Captain Peterson?"

Another Super-Mutant walked up to them, this one was smaller but covered in armor and holding a mini-gun.

"You're alive. I'm impressed, Don. I thought you were stationed at the fort that was attacked."

"I was. It was Brotherhood. This man has an army and wishes to fight back against them. He's called the Courier."

"Greetings, Captain Peterson, I presume. I'm the Courier. I'm here to ask for your help. If the Brotherhood follow the plan I expect them to, they'll purge the subways soon enough. I can stop that."

"You're polite for a human. What do you ask for?"

"I'll give you enough of my robots to defend your subways, if you give me access to them and give me your men."

"What proof do you this isn't a trick?"

"Don can vouch for me. I've helped him and fought the Brotherhood many times before. I plan to take New York for myself. If you support me, you'll be one of my lieutenants. If not, I'll let the Brotherhood take you out. I have a benefactor in New Vegas who will send us caps, men and supplies, and help us. He'll help manage New York afterwards."

"I'm convinced then. You still need to convince Roy here, the leader of the local super-mutants, and the ghoul's leader, Romero."

Roy grunted.

"I follow the Captain's wishes. I support the human."

The Courier smiled.

"Thank you. I promise, you won't regret this. Where's Romero?"

"Probably back of the train on the left."

The Courier walked to the train, past several hulking mutants and a few ghouls. Several greeted Don and the other super-mutants, but the rest just worked. He found Romero sitting in the back of a crashed train, wearing combat armor and smoking a cigarette. The train was full of ghouls, and had been packed with tables and armchairs. Ghouls were gambling, tinkering with machine and smoking. In fact, there were so many smoking that the air practically choked the Courier. He was lying across a couch that had been crammed in.

"Hey, Smooth-skin. What are you doing down here?"

"I'm trying to convince you all to join up with me and fight back against the Brotherhood of Steel before they wipe you all out."

"Well, that shouldn't be too hard. I'm already half-convinced. I'll make you a deal: If you can three small kids and carve out their brains, I'll join you in exchange for the brains. I'm quite hungry."

"What?" The Courier asked, shocked.

"I'm just joking, Smooth-skin. "You know, Zombies eat brains. I'm Romero. I named myself after some pre-war guy who invented zombies. You're polite for a human. You're not as edgy around us. Did you spend some time with ghouls? Necropolis or the Underworld?"

"No, I just knew a lot of them. I was friends with them when I was younger, Courier 4 was a Ghoul, who has sent to bring packages through irradiated zones, and my team's mechanic is a ghoul."

"Huh. Well you should now then, without the ghouls these super-mutants have nothing. We're the doctors, engineers, trap-layers and snipers of this team. As long as you respect that, we have no problem. Do you have an army of your own?"

"I've a large robot army, reinforced by several clones and my own personal men."

"Clones? That's interesting. Fine. Tell the Captain I'll fight for you."

"You have my thanks."

The Courier went back to Captain Peterson.

"Romero said he supports me."

"Then we'll fight with you. Tell us what to do."

"I'll send Securitrons to help secure this place. You should lay traps in the North and West subways in case they try to attack. Also, set up as many traps and ambush points as you can. We'll establish a radio link should orders change."

"Of course. What other tribes are we allied with?"

"At the moment? Just you. We'll convince more, though."

"You should be quick about doing it. Don't let me keep you."

The Courier smiled and tipped his hat, before turning to head back to the surface.

OOO

The Lone Wanderer headed to the Republic of Dave encampment. Dogmeat, Bishop and four Paladins walked with him.

"Is four men really worth this walk? I take back everything I said about them. They suck. They'll shoot us on sight. They're murderers of babies. Let's turn around." Bishop said.

The Lone Wanderer sighed, and drew a cigarette to his lips. He grabbed a lighter and lit it, taking in a deep breath of the calming smoke.

"I see something!" A Paladin said.

The Lone Wanderer peered into the distance, and saw a building in the distance. There was a hastily erected barricade of mannequins and pieces of furniture around it, and a small light machine gun nest in one of the windows. There were two soldiers strolling around outside, a guy and a girl. The Girl held a sniper and the guy a shotgun. One of them noticed the Lone Wanderer and his squad, and they dove into cover.

"State your name and business!" The Guy yelled.

"I'm an ambassador of the wastelands, sent to beg President Dave for military support."

"Dave isn't here. There's only Commander Kevin. Dave's still in the Republic."

"Then I'm here to ask Commander Kevin for military support."

A Super-Mutant and another guy walked outside.

"Humans in sight!" The Mutant roared.

"Who sent you?" Kevin asked.

"The Brotherhood of Steel. We need a great and powerful nation like yours to support us. There's an army of evil robots planning to wipe out the Republic, and it's up to us to stop them."

The Soldiers seemed surprised to be complimented, and talked for a minute.

"We accept your offer."

"All I need is you to set up a scouting post and radio us should any military units try to pass."

"Understood. The Republic of Dave will be a great ally to the Brotherhood of Steel."

"Of course you will." The Lone Wanderer said. "I guess I'll be leaving, then."

"Understood." Kevin said.

The Lone Wanderer gave them their radio frequency and started heading back to camp.

"Well, that was a hell of a lot of time wasted for four guys."

"That's four more soldiers for us and four less soldiers the Courier can recruit."

"He's probably recruiting ten times as many as we speak…"

"Hey kid: Shut up." A Paladin said.

"Fine, fine." Bishop replied. "Let's head home."


	9. Police, Snipers, Hounds and the Rich

Douglas Murphy sat in the front of the caravan being pulled by two Brahmin. He was trying to transport a load of ammo and water to the nearby Vault 18. He took a long drink of water, and winced as he heard a bang. At first he thought it was a gunshot, before he realized one of the wheels had cracked off. He climbed out of the caravan and went to look at him. He started to take it off until he heard a voice.

"Look what we have here! Fresh meat."

Douglas turned, and saw three men approach him. One wore power armour painted and a hockey mask, another wore a Pint-Sized Slasher mask and a tattered suit and the third wore a waste-hound helmet and combat armour painted black. They must be Exiles. Douglas drew his bowie knife and charged forward. He slashed his knife multiple times, slitting the Waste-Hound's throat. The Pint-Sized Slasher ran towards him with two long knives, and Douglas turned and dived inside the caravan and shut the door closed. He barred it shut and grabbed his caravan shotgun and aimed it at the door.

"I don't have anything worth stealing. I got hit by a raider squad a few miles out of town." He shouted.

The Exiles tried to push the door in, but failed. Douglas smiled, before a crashing fist came through the side of the wagon and grabbed his throat. He was yanked through the very caravan walls and thrown to the ground.

"I'm the Dark Knight. You just killed my friend."

Douglas swung his knife, but the Dark Knight twisted his hand until it broke, before grabbing his head and pressing his thumbs into his eyes. Douglas screamed as his head was crushed. His screams were mercifully short as his brain was crushed. The Dark Knight rose and let out a deep laugh.

"That one was loud. Start packing the supplies, we need to leave. God, it's good to be alive."

He smiled, and laughed again. Life was fun.

OOO

The Lone Wanderer stood at the top of a skyscraper, looking across a large gap. Dogmeat was standing on the other side, next to Bishop.

"Just jump. Stop being such a baby."

"I don't like heights. I grew up underground. Also, the jumps pretty hard in power armour, even with the helmet off"

Bishop rolled his eyes. The Lone Wanderer frowned, and took a few steps back. He ran as fast as he could forward and jumped as high as he could. He landed several metres in front of where he was aiming, and crumpled to the ground. Bishop clapped slowly.

"That was amazing. Spectacular. You jumped a distance a dog did. Let's go."

Bishop grinned, and turned and headed to the stairs.

"It's locked." He said, and dropped to a knee and started to pick the lock. The door opened, and Bishop walked inside and headed down the stairs. Several floors down, he opened the door and headed into a small office building, where several desks were piled around in a makeshift wall.

"Annabelle! You there?"

The Lone Wanderer froze as he felt the barrel of a gun touch the back of his head. He shouldn't have taken off his helmet.

"How's it feel knowing one shot could finish everything you've accomplished?" She said.

"Annabelle, stop scaring my client. He has a proposition for Alan." Bishop said.

"I know. Tyson stalked a few paladins, said that they're trying to join up with the local tribes from what they said on the radio. You shouldn't be coming here, Max. It's dangerous for a kid like you."

"I am not a kid. I'm fifteen, nearly sixteen."

"Why's the Steel here?"

"I'm from Washington." The Lone Wanderer said. "The Brotherhood is trying to annex the city, and we need your support to do so. We have supplies for you, and caps to pay…"

"Save your spiel for Alan, Steel."

"Where's Alan?"

"Here." A Voice said.

The Lone Wanderer turned and saw a man crouching on a bookshelf to his right.

"You're sneaky people. I could use that."

"You're fighting the bots, right? I was wondering who sent them. Enclave?"

"No, it's a soldier from New Vegas known as the Courier."

"Oh, I've heard of him. I had a contract on his head, but the payer got himself blown up before I even left the city."

"Well, I need your help. I'll pay you goods caps."

"All caps are good. We want five thousand up front."

The Lone Wanderer flinched, but took out ten bags of five hundred caps each and gave them to him.

"Thanks. You can meet your men if you want. There's only four of us here. The rest are back at the vault. There's me, Annabelle, Kentucky and Drake. A word of advice: Don't talk to Drake. Never even mention him."

The Lone Wanderer nodded, and Alan led him into an office where several sleeping bags were scattered around, and two snipers lay down aiming down their scopes. One of them stood up, a large Asian man wearing a leather jacket and jeans.

"I am Ling Zu. I have been trained in the ancient Chinese martial arts, and can kill you with a single finger…"

"He paid up front. You don't need to impress him." Alan said.

"Oh. Then I'm Ben. People call me Kentucky, because that's where I'm from. Sorry to have a much more disappointing backstory."

The other sniper stood and gripped the Lone Wanderer's hand.

"My name's Drake. It's a pleasure." He said.

He paused, and his eyes widened.

"I know you. They call you the Lone Wanderer. I shadowed you for a while in Washington. I was hunting my brother because he stole my caps, and you killed him, so I stalked you. He worked for Talon Company. I don't mind, he was a little shit. Let me tell you what I found out. You grew up in Vault 101, getting every privilege known to man, came out and decided you were better than everyone else, tracked down your dad, got him killed by not laying traps or scouting the perimeter of the place you were at, relied on the Brotherhood to save you, finished a tiny bit of work and got the credit for everyone else's work in the Project you were working on just because you survived a radiation spike. And let's not forget the massacre at Tenpenny Towers you caused after convincing the humans they were save around ghouls, wiped out the last trees ever, stole your armor from a ghoul and allowed slavery to continue in the Pitt. You're a sick person."

Drake sneered, before breaking into a grin.

"Just kidding. You seem alright. Well, except for the stuff I just mentioned and wiping out the super-mutant traders camp even though they were peaceful, and… You know what? It doesn't matter."

Drake grinned wider, and walked off into the bathroom.

"Don't mind him. He likes to try to get under people's skin." Annabelle said.

"I don't try to get under people's skin. I succeed." Drake said from another room.

"So, we hunt down the robots and get paid?"

"One of the Paladins reported the local ghouls and super-mutants are working for them as well, so hunt them all."

"Done. This is going to be a profitable agreement." Kentucky said.

OOO

The Courier winced as the packs of dogs ran around him, barking and yelping. There were about fifty or sixty dogs, and they wouldn't shut up. It was just him, Rex, Roxie and Blaze. He was in the basement of a building, surrounded by dogs. Three vault 5 dwellers lay on the ground, dead.

"Stop! Bad dogs! Bad dogs!"

The dogs stopped, looking at him. The Courier had attempted to make an agreement with the vault dwellers, but they tried to eat them so he killed them all. After about an hour of barking and biting, Blaze had asserted himself as the pack leader, and the dogs were now under the Courier's command. But, they were still dogs and they were still making noises and crapping, so the Courier wanted to leave quickly. The Courier got Blaze and the largest dogs in front of him. The Courier put a communications link on Blaze's back so he could give the pack orders, and put on some leather armour on the largest dogs that he had made on the drive over here from raider's armor.

"Blaze, you have new orders. You are the pack leader of the dogs, and I need you to hunt down any Brothers of Steel you can find. Ambush and hunt to get meat to survive, but primarily just hunt down our enemies. Understood?"

Blaze barked happily, and the Courier smiled. He had the super-mutants, the ghouls, the Securitrons, the clones, the junkyard robots, the surrendering Chinese Soldiers and the dogs. This army would serve him well. New York would soon be his.

OOO

Four Paladins strolled out of the subway and along an alleyway in New York.

"We'll swing around the side-streets and head back to camp. Understood?"

"I need a smoke." A Paladin said, removing his power armour helmet and sticking a cigarette in his mouth. "Anyone have a light?"

Another Paladin lit the cigarette carefully with the incinerator, and the smoker took in a deep breath.

"That's good…" The Paladin said, before his head exploded.

The other paladins dropped to their knees and looked around aiming their guns.

"There's a sniper across the street!"

Across the street in a crater inside a shop was a ghoul with a hunting rifle. A Paladin fired his minigun, but the ghoul disappeared into the building. Two Paladins went after him, holding plasma rifles.

"No! It's an ambush!" The Gunner with the minigun yelled, but the paladins disappeared into the building.

One of the paladins stumbled on a tripwire and a cluster of grenades went off, blowing him to bits. The second slowed down, narrowly avoiding another tripwire. He followed the ghoul, avoiding another tripwire, catching up with the ghoul. A Super-Mutant burst out of a clothes rack next to the paladin, and was knocked to the ground by a super-sledge. The Mutant roared and smashed the paladin over the head until he was nothing but cracked power armour and flesh.

"Nice one." The Ghoul said.

"Where's the fourth one?"

The remaining paladin peered through his binoculars to see the super-mutants. He swore, and turned to retreat. The Ghoul took several pot-shots at him, but the paladin quickly retreated back into the subway.

"We should get out of here before he gets reinforcements." The Ghoul said.

The Super-Mutant nodded, and grunted his approval. The pair turned, and headed out of the area.

OOO

The Lone Wanderer knocked on the gates to Uptown Heights. A Security bot appeared, and aimed at him.

"Welcome. Please wait here for our greeter." The Bot said.

The Courier waited, and a man in a suit with a tie and top hat appeared, brandishing a cane.

"Welcome! We've been expecting you."

"Really?"

"Yes, yes. We have access to a range of security cameras that are still maintained all over the city. Do you represent the Brotherhood of Steel, or the NVM?"

"What's the NVM?"

"Then you must be Brotherhood. NVM, or New Vegas Military. They're made up of Mr House's army of Securitron defence robots reinforced by the local subway "monsters", Chinese Marines and, if I'm correct, feral dogs they've taken in. They're an impressive force. I am Mr Peckin, spelt P-E-C-K-I-N. Please, if you would enter."

The Security Gate opened, and the Lone Wanderer entered, followed by Dogmeat and Fawkes.

"If you don't mind, could your dog and… friend wait in the lobby?"

"Of course." The Lone Wanderer said.

Mr Peckin led him to the elevator, and they headed up to a penthouse. He called several people over an intercom, and within minutes several men and women in suits were sitting around a table. A Mister Handsy brought over a tray of Scotch and Fancy Lad Snack Cakes. The Lone Wanderer grabbed a snack cake and bit into it, tasting the chocolate cream burst out of cake as he chewed. The Lone Wanderer took a glass, and took a sip.

"It's good, isn't it? So many raiders just drink to get drunk. Not us. We drink for enjoyment. Now, tell me what the Brotherhood has to offer."

"We can provide protection in exchange for use of your security bots, and the security cameras you mentioned, if you weren't lying."

"Respectfully, I don't lie. I take offence at the accusation."

"OK, I apologize then."

"Now, the NVM also has a large army that could protect us. Why would we join with you?"

"We're… similar. Both the Brotherhood of Steel and Uptown Heights appreciate the Old World. We appreciate the tech and you appreciate the luxuries. Surely we can come to some sort of arrangement. Should we find any luxury items, we'll give them to you as payment for the use of your security cameras."

"I have a counter-offer. You give us any luxury items and pre-war tech found in New York that does not have anything to do with war or fighting. Are these terms acceptable?"

"Yes."

"Perfect, then. You can stay here for the night if you want. We have a large supply of alcohol and food here, and several… ladies of the night we have taken in. Of course, there's a few men and robots that could please any requests you have."

"No, I need to head back to my camp. I need to look over the new Paladins that arrived, and go through a defence plans. We've had Securitrons use their missiles to attack our trucks."

"Of course. We can give you several security bots, and we can download the video feed from cameras to your Pip-Boy. I don't suppose I could trade you for the Pip-Boy?"

"No, it's too useful to me. Let's download the feed, and I'll leave."

"Of course."

OOO

Two Ex-Chinese Soldiers led by a Securitron moved quickly through the streets.

"Hey bot, there's some water here." A Soldier said.

The Securitron stopped, and turned to see several bottles of Aqua Pure lying around the street. One of the soldiers grabbed a bottle and took a sip, before spitting it out.

"Irradiated." He said.

There was a bang, and he took a shot through the neck, and collapsed in a bloody pool. The Vault 18 Snipers perched in the buildings fired again, cutting through a soldier's knee. A Paladin with a minigun charged forward, firing. He killed the Chinese Soldier, and several bullets thudded into the Securitron. The Securitron turned to leave, and whirred off in an attempt to retreat. Several minigun bullets thudded into it, but overheated before he took out the Securitron. The Sniper bullets weren't powerful enough to finish off the Securitron, which managed to outrun the Paladin and head back to the Super-Mutant's protected subways.

"Shit. It's gone. Set up an ambush point in case they counter-attack."

OOO

The NYPD was set up in a pre-war police station and the surrounding neighbourhood in the suburbs. There was a wall around several large houses, and there was an NYPD Guard outside. The Courier greeted him, and looked him over. He wore bulky black combat armour reinforced with metal plates, and wore a metal helmet painted black and a gasmask.

"Hello, Wastelander. Are you seeking asylum or do you wish to report a crime?"

"I've been sent here to make an alliance between the NYPD and my own personal forces from New Vegas."

"Understood. We request you leave all explosive devices and firearms here. Melee weapons are allowed."

"Why don't you take melee weapons?"

"In case of a raider sneaking in, a creature or bug getting in or an attack. Please put all weapons on the tray, as well as chems."

The Courier put some Med X, his All-American and his dynamite on the tray, but managed to hide his magnum. The Officer knocked three times on the metal door leading in the NYPD Area. Two more soldiers opened the door, and the Courier and Rex entered.

"So, what does NYPD stand for?"

"I don't think it stands for anything, Sir. If it did, we don't know. We were set up here by a few ex-Regulators. It's a good program here. We're self-sufficient, and provide aid and protection to any wastelanders who ask for it. I myself was a chem addict who tried to kill another Officer for his weapon to sell, and he took me in and recruited me. I became a Recruit, then an Officer. Any day now I could become a Lieutenant. Then, if I work hard I could take over after the Captain."

The Officer led him through the streets, past several buildings with wastelanders inside, and farms where the driveways should be, where the tarmac had been removed and replaced with soil. Another, similarly dressed man appeared, except with a blue band around the arm with a star on it, and a similar pattern on the helmet.

"Jail or seeking asylum?" He asked.

"He needs to talk to the Captain, Lieutenant."

"Understood. Thanks, Tucker."

The Officer left, and the Lieutenant led him into a fortified building with a machine gun nest on top.

"So, you need to see Captain Russo?"

"Yeah. I'm the head of the NVM. I want to ally with the NYPD."

"Well, we'd make a good ally. We're strong but kind. We try not to kill unless we're attacked, or they commit rape, two or more murder, or kill an officer. The rest get a sentence in the jail. The Jail's made up of the cells here, in the basement and in the cells we made in the next house. Is that a cyber-dog?"

"It's a cyber-hound, yeah."

"We have a few hear. They were already here when we arrived, and they were quite friendly so we kept them."

The Courier was sent into an office, where a man in a light blue uniform with a police hat sat behind a desk.

"Hello, Wastelander. Can I help you? Is this about the Dark Knight?"

"I'm known as the Courier. I came here from New Vegas to annex New York to prevent a Brotherhood of Steel takeover."

"We've dealt with Brotherhood before. They've assisted us, but our relationship turned sour when we tried to arrest one of their men for raiding a caravan and taking its energy weapons. Are you the owner of the robots who entered?"

"Yes, that's me."

"Thank god. I heard a rumour that the Exiles had bought them to take us out. I'll make a deal with you if you promise not to harm the wastelanders or steal."

"Of course. I'll arrange the deal now."

"Understood. Let's get to the details."


	10. The Hospital Battle

The Courier sat in the driver's seat of the pick-up truck with Roxie, three Chinese Soldiers and Boone, followed by a squad of twelve Securitrons and several heavily armed super-mutants. They were heading to an old pre-war hospital to scavenge for supplies. The Courier' Securitrons didn't need medicine, but the NYPD, Mutants, Ghouls and dogs all did. It momentarily occurred to the Courier that his NVM was mostly non-humans except for the NYPD, but he didn't particularly care. The truck stopped outside the hospital, and the Chinese Soldiers climbed out, carrying empty duffel bags and assault rifles. One of them stayed behind and turned to the Courier.

"I would like to thank you for granting us our lives. We did not realize the madness of Commander Shí's plans until we actually left isolation and got to talk to the wastelanders."

"Thanks, Private Ling."

The Courier grabbed his magnum and a duffel bag. He walked through the front door, where one of the soldiers was picking the lock on a safe, another was smashing open a medicine cabinet to get the chems inside, and Private Ling began collecting the medical equipment from the surgery ward. The Courier started walking around through the rooms, grabbing any first aid kits and taking the stimpaks and rad-aways from them. He got through several rooms before he found a stash of Med-X, Buffout, Jet and Steady on several dozen nurse's trays, and put them into the bag. He stepped over a burnt skeleton and found the canteen, and decided to see what was there. He cleared out two fridges of their pre-war food and filled his bag. He started munching on a Mirelurk Cake. He heard gunfire, so he crammed the Mirelurk Cake into his mouth and drew his gun. He found two of the Chinese Soldiers tossing several dead giants ants into a pile.

"Sorry Commander. There were several large ants infesting a room so we had to kill them. The Courier noticed his duffel bag was nearly full, so he tossed it into the back of the pick-up and retrieved a spare back-pack."

The Elevator opened, and a large super-mutant stepped out.

"The middle floors are heavily irradiated. Leave them to us. The top three and bottom three floors aren't irradiated, so the human scavengers should stick to there."

The Courier nodded, and pressed the button for the second elevator, and stepped in, followed by Private Ling. They went up to the top floor, and started searching for any medicine they could find. There were several Mister Handsy's there, which Private Ling sent down the elevator to be sent back to the Courier's territory to work as medics. The Courier went up to the roof, where Boone was perched.

"Any hostiles in sight?"

"Yeah. This area is what's known as gang territory. There's several small groups of raiders here fighting for control of the local chem labs, and they're in too far from the NYPD to be wiped out and too far from the Exiles to be indoctrinated. Two Gangsters went out taking pot-shots at a mad Brahmin, but they got killed by a sniper who's couldn't even hit the building with the aim he's got, even if he was inside it."

"Chem Labs? We need to send some guys out and capture the chems for anything that might help the fight, and wipe out some scum while doing it."

"We can radio in with the NYPD to find out which gangs manufacture the chems we could use like Med-X, and we'll take them out"

OOO

Sarah Lyons looked was leading several squads of Paladins into gang territory. The Lone Wanderer had ordered her to take control of a local hospital to expand BoS Control, and wipe out the gangs from there. She led her men along the roads, ready for the veteran criminals to ambush her in a quick, brutal yet silent manner that the Enclave did. She knew they'd use stealth to pick them off, never appearing from their hidden spots.

"Hey! Who the hell is leading some assholes into my turf!?" A Voice yelled.

Maybe they wouldn't be the stealthy and deadly foes she feared.

"Who the hell are _they_?"

Six men came out of an alleyway, brandishing assault rifles, baseball bats and a light machine gun. The leader, a man wearing faded jeans and a leather jacket without sleeves appeared, holding a 10mm pistol and a machete.

"Look who's here! Who sent you, huh? Trent? Malcom? Blue? 'Cause if I told them some asshole lieutenant of his was walkin' around my block, they'd give me his head? Or hers, in this case."

"We're the Brotherhood of Steel. Head back to your homes if you don't want there to be an issue."

"Issue? When I have a no good bitch coming into my territory, there's an issue! Get the hell out of here!"

Sarah Lyons looked at him, confused.

"You see the fact that you're outnumbered, outgunned and we have better armour, right? Do you understand that?"

The leader's face went red, and he drew his pistol and shot Lyons in the chest. The bullet harmlessly bounced off, and Sarah looked at him.

"I'll give you one last chance to get the hell out of here."

The Leader paused, before slashing his blade. Sarah ducked, and aimed her laser rifle at his head and fired. The Leader collapsed, and the light machine gunner fired at them. A Paladin stepped forward and knocked him to the ground, before firing a plasma blast at his stomach and turning him into green gloop. The other gangsters fired and ran back into their houses, but three more fell due to the mini-guns, and the rest either dropped their weapons and surrendered, or were taken out as they peered out of cover.

"Let's press on. The hospitals at the end of this street."

They jogged together for a minute, before Sarah heard the unmistakable crack of a gun firing.

"What was…?"

A paladin's helmet cracked open as a sniper bullet ripped through her head.

"Sniper! On the hospital roof." A Paladin said.

Sarah peaked out of cover and saw a muzzle flash. She yelped as a bullet landed inches away from her, and fired several shots.

"I see more men. There's NVM scattered all over the building!"

"Radio the Lone Wanderer! Tell him to bring some men and a Vertibird!"

OOO

Ronald sat at a bench, working over a science set along with nine of his fellow workers. They were in a small apartment, with several benches around tables filled with the chem manufacturing equipment. The apartment had no windows, and the only way in and out was a large heavy steel door. They all wore rebreathers to deal with the constant gases spewed into the air, and overalls. Rock music blared out of the radio, and two guards holding 10mm submachine guns walked around, wearing leather armour.

"Hurry up. We need to get this shipment out onto the streets. Emmett said there were some psychopaths going around wearing power armour and invading his turf. If we don't get this shit out before we get the order to lockdown, I'll…"

There was a gentle tap on the door. The guard opened a small viewing slit in the door and looked through.

"We're not selling."

"Open the door, please."

The guard chuckled.

"Get your ass out of here, crack head."

"I'll give you one more chance before I kill my way in here."

The Guard's eyes narrowed.

"I'm gonna break your legs if you're still here in five seconds."

The Guard closed the slit, and started counting to five aloud. He opened the sit after five seconds, and swore.

"They…"

The door exploded, and a large robot rolled in on one wheel and a monitor showing a soldier's head. A Cowboy stepped through after, and smiled.

"It's been five seconds. My legs aren't broken. I guess you were wrong."

The Guard lay on the ground, the door on top of him. The Cowboy shot him through the head, and killed the other guard when he tried to fire.

"Street urchins, bums and various vagabonds!" The Cowboy said loudly. "I am the Courier. This is the fifth chem lab I've hit, and the last for today, so you should know I've dealt with a lot of junkies, and I'm shit sick of it.. Tell me where the chems are, and clear out."

None of them moved. The Courier placed a pistol on the table.

"If anyone wishes to fight, go ahead and take it."

Two workers actually dived for it, but the Courier shot them both.

"Anyone else?"

Ronald pointed to the footlocker to the side. The Courier opened it, and presumably saw the Med-X and jet that filled it.

"Perfect." He said, smiling. He tied the footlocker to the back of the robot, and left the building. "You should get the hell out of there!"

The workers filed out, and the robot fired several missiles inside the lab. It exploded in a fireball, turning Ronald's former workplace into a bonfire.

"Well, you should probably clear off." The Cowboy said.

The Cowboy smiled, and walked off with his four robots.

OOO

The Lone Wanderer released several rope ladders from the Vertibird, and the soldiers climbed aboard. Lyons came last, and smiled at him.

"Thank for the assist. The Courier's taken control of the hospital. We need to take control of the roof, and fight our way down."

The Lone Wanderer smiled.

"Let's do it."

OOO

Boone took another shot. He watched through his scope as the blond girl climbed the rope ladder. He fired again, but missed. He watched to see where the Vertibird would retreat to, and sighed. They were attacking. The Vertibird was heading straight towards him. Its guns fired on him, lasers hitting all around him. Boone grabbed a rope, and tied it around a metal bar in the elevator shaft. The elevator was at the bottom floor, and he didn't have time to call it up, and the stairs were too heavily irradiated for him to survive. He tied himself to the rope, fastening it around his armpits. He took a deep breath and started to lower him down the shaft to the bottom floor. After a few minutes, he heard the Vertibird land. A Paladin peered down the shaft, and spotted him. The Paladin fired a few plasma blasts, but Boone was already enough floors down to be past the irradiated zone, and simply opened an elevator door, untied himself and stepped through. He grabbed his radio, and found the Courier's emergency frequency.

"We have a problem. Brotherhood, on the roof."

"I'll be there in a minute. Try not to die, my friend."

"No promises."

OOO

"It's irradiated in the lower floors." Sarah Lyons said to the Lone Wanderer. "Take your Rad-X, make sure you're helmets secure and head down.

The Lone Wanderer nodded, and dry swallowed several Rad-X pills, before putting on his power armour. He nodded, and headed towards the stairwell. He loaded his rifle, and went down the stairs. He moved down a flight of stairs, where three paladins were stacking up at the door. One of the paladins kicked open the door, but was knocked back by minigun fire until he smacked into the wall, and fell to the ground. The Lone Wanderer waited until the gunner stopped firing and charged forward, firing his rifle. The Gunner, a super-mutant, ran forward and launched a kick. The Lone Wanderer rolled under the kick and pointed the gun at the super-mutants head and fired, exploding the monster's skull. Another ran out of cover with a shotgun and fired. The Lone Wanderer dodged the main blast, but several pellets thudded into his armour. The Lone Wanderer fired into the mutant's side until it fell apart into ashes. A Paladin moved forward with a Laser Minigun, firing it down the stairwell and killing another super-mutant. The Paladin walked forward, but exploded in a mist of blood, chunks of flesh and bits of metal as he stepped on a bottle cap mine. A Securitron appeared, charging up the stairs. The Lone Wanderer ducked under its machine gun fire and smashed its monitor with the butt of the rifle, and shoved it onto it's back. He fired several shots into the body, and kicked it down the stair as it exploded. He reloaded, and headed down another flight of stairs.

OOO

"They're in the irradiated zone. We'll fight them there, because it doesn't affect anyone here but me."

The Courier took some Rad-X, put some Zion Cave Fungus in his mouth to chew during the fight and fixed on his rebreather.

"Just follow my orders and we'll win this."

They nodded, and headed upstairs. They ran up the stairs together until they reached an area where a fight was taking place. The Courier fired a few shots at an incoming security bot with the Uptown Heights logo on the side. Its circuitry exploded, and it stopped moving. The Courier dodged a bullet from a large super-mutant holding a hunting rifle in one hand and a soldier in the other, and realized it was from the Republic of Dave due to its uniform. A Securitron rammed into it and it collapsed, and the Courier stood over it and fired his All-American at full blast into its skull. He checked the soldier the super-mutant was holding, and turned it over to see a familiar face.

"I found Boone! I was wondering where you were, buddy!" The Courier said.

"Thanks. I tried to hold off a group of approaching soldiers before they got to the lower floors, but the damn mutant snuck up on me 'cause I thought it was one of ours."

He called over one of the Hospital Mr Handsy's, and it picked up Boone and took him down to the safety of the lower floors. Three more Security Bots headed towards him, and the Courier aimed and took several shots. One of the bot's combat initiator exploded, and it turned on opened fire on the second one. It destroyed the second, and was killed by the Third. A Securitron fired a grenade at it, and it exploded in a hiss of sparks. The Courier grabbed a piece of dynamite from his coat, lit it and tossed it towards a Paladin who came down the stairs, blowing the Paladin up and sending chunks of him down the stairs, leaving only his severed feet standing on the stairs. The Courier moved to go up the stairs, but saw a dozen paladins marching down, armed to the teeth.

"Goddamnit, we need to retreat. Get whatever supplies we have, get out of here and send in a barrage of missiles to destroy anything usable here, especially the area that specialises in removing rads, to make them feel the bite of the radiation poisoning they'll be getting." The Courier said to a Securitron. "Relay the order to everyone else. I'll hold them off."

The Courier drew several more pieces of dynamite and bound them together. He lit a fuse, and launched it up the stairs, where it went off. The Courier aimed and fired up the stairs, until the smoke cleared and the paladins started firing back. The Courier took out some long-fuse pieces of dynamite and lit them. He dropped them along the floor, before falling back with the rest of his men.

OOO

The Courier sat in the back of his truck as a Mister Handsy fixed his with Rad-Away. The Securitrons fired a barrage of missiles into the hospital until they were out of missiles, and turned to retreat. The Courier looked through his binoculars and side of the building explode. Chunks of concrete and glass fell to the ground, and the Courier even saw a few paladins fall ouf of the building. The missiles stayed on target and hit the areas with supplies. The Courier nodded to the Securitrons, and ordered a retreat. Boone started the engine and started to drive. The Courier took a sip of scotch and sighed.

"We lost today, boys, but we got a lot of good meds today, and took out a lot of the Brotherhood. In the next battle, we'll win and capture something worthwhile."

The Courier shook his head sadly. They had lost, but next time they would win, and force the Brotherhood back out of New York.

OOO

The Lone Wanderer charged down the stairs aiming his rifle, but found it was empty. The NVM must have been retreating. He smiled, and slung his rifle over his shoulder. He smiled happily. Then, the room exploded. Dust filled the air, and he struggled to breath. He felt warm blood running down the side of his head, and felt a small piece of metal in his shoulder, and grabbed it. He pulled, ripping out the shrapnel and threw it aside. He saw Sarah Lyons and another paladin hanging from the edge of the floor, which had mostly fallen away in the room they were at. The Lone Wanderer dived forward and grabbed Lyons hand, but the other paladin yelped as the wire he was holding onto snapped off and he plummeted down two floors and smacked into a chunk of concrete, snapping his back.

"Jesus! I didn't even know the Securitrons had missiles." The Lone Wanderer said.

"They're retreating. We need to set up defences, deal with the wounded and the irradiated and repair the Security Bots and Vertibirds"

"We're in a hospital. Dealing with wounded isn't going to be an issue."

"A lot of supplies have been looted."

"There'll be hidden caches of medical supplies everywhere. Repairing the bots will be harder, but we'll get it done. Still, we're the victors. You might as well bask in a bit of the glory."

The Lone Wanderer smiled. He had achieved victory today.


	11. The End of the Exiles

A large super-mutant, a Chinese Soldier and a Securitron were tied up on the ground in front of the Lone Wanderer.

"They won't break, Commander. We can't hack the Securitron, and the other two are resilient. They won't talk, even with force." A Paladin said, looking down at the prisoners.

The Lone Wanderer paused, and thought for a second.

"Kill the robot and the mutant. The human can still be redeemed."

The Securitron's guns fired, but the ammo had been removed so it couldn't fire. The Paladin fired his laser into its mainframe, frying it and killing the machine.

"I'm a prisoner of war! You can't…" The Mutant stopped, and sneered. "You mutant-hater scum! The Courier's gonna wipe you out. The NVM's going to capture this city, and kill you rats!"

The Lone Wanderer raised his gun and fired. The Chinese Soldier dived in front of the blast as it went through his heart and killed him and he screamed he would never surrender. The laser went through the soldier exploded out the back of the mutant's head as it turned to ash and fell apart.

"Well, that took care of the prisoners." The Lone Wanderer said, smiling weakly.

Despite the smile, the Lone Wanderer felt sick in the wake of the fight. There had been nothing but death, and he felt like he was confirming his inner beliefs that he shouldn't be there. The Courier had united the victimized tribes like the Junkyard Robots, Mutants and Ghouls and gotten them accepted by the beloved local NYPD Regulators. He would make a better leader than… No. The Brotherhood could offer peace and stability to the region, while the Courier couldn't. The Lone Wanderer couldn't let his doubts stop him now. He was so close to peace. The Lone Wanderer slung his rifle over his shoulder, before having a realization. Everyone in New York was picking sides except the Exiles. If the Lone Wanderer could convince them to join him, they'd have the advantage. So the Lone Wanderer headed to the Exile's turf.

OOO

Two soldiers carried their large machine gun into position on top of the ruined building. It was a skyscraper that had all the upper floors destroyed, leaving only three floors. The Clones placed down their gun and aimed down at the street, where the Courier walked next to two Securitrons. The Courier was inspecting the local neighbourhood that had become the Courier's battlefield front when he lost the hospital. It was based in the lower floors of several skyscrapers that had the upper floors destroyed with the exception of the bottom four or five floors. There was a bar, a hotel, several homes and a general store. The Securitrons went into two small concrete encampments where there was a large hole in each surrounded by a concrete barricade and a corrugated iron roof held up by iron bars, to protect the Securitrons in case the Brotherhood attacked. The Courier decided to stop and go into the bar for a drink before checking up on the defences. He pushed open the doors, and entered an abandoned reception area, with a sign pointing to a stairs. He went up the stairs, and came out into a large bar, with a several tables scattered across the room, though the bar was nearly empty. The Courier took off his sunglasses and went up to the counter.

"Get me the finest scotch you have, and some steak." The Courier said.

He slid across several caps, and was given a large hunk of meat on a tin plate and a shot glass, which the bartender filled with scotch. The Courier raised the glass to his lips, and felt a tug on his duster. He turned, and saw a small boy, probably around eight or nine years old.

"Yes?"

"Are you him? The Vegas Cowboy?"

"I guess, if that's what they call me here."

"Did you really fend off both the NCR and the Caesar's Legion?"

"Yeah."

The Boy's eyes widened.

"Did you really fix a pre-war flying machine? Did you send ghouls to space, and get shot in the head,?"

"Yes, I did."

"Did…?" The boy started.

"Jonah! Leave the man drink in peace." The Bartender yelled, and the kid ran away as the Courier smirked.

The Courier took a sip of scotch, and began tearing away at his steak. He started eating, before hearing a yell. He turned his head, and saw five armed figures wearing balaclavas, fedoras and crumpled pre-war suited entered. One punched the nearest person, and the other fired into the air.

"Stay down! We don't want any trouble! Just give us the caps in the safe!" One of them yelled.

Nearly everyone dropped to the floor and raised their hands. The Courier did not. The Courier simply continued eating. Another figure, a girl, grabbed her 10mm pistol and pointed it at the men.

"Drop the gun, lady. You're outnumbered by a hell of a lot, and we don't want your caps, only what's in the safe."

The gunman edged forward, before leaping forward and grabbing the girl by the wrists and throwing her into a wall and grabbing her neck.

"Put down the lady or I'm going to break your legs and throw you in the ocean." The Courier said, standing up. "This has stopped being amusing."

"Amusing? You wanna get shot?" A Gunman asked, raising his submachine gun.

"Yeah. It's amusing. You're hacks. The safety of two of your guns are on, one doesn't have a clip in it, there's Securitrons outside that'll blow you to bits and you're wearing disguises, so you're probably local, and not raiders."

The Lead Gunman aimed his gun at the Courier.

"You're safety's on." The Courier said.

When the leader went to check his safety, the Courier leapt to his feet and shot him through the head. He quickly aimed and fired off another four shots and killed the rest before they could move. The Courier turned and sat back down, and went back to his meal. After about a minute, the girl from earlier sat down next to him.

"Hi. Thanks for the help back there."

"Of course. You don't need to thank me for killing some bandits."

The Courier turned to look at her. She was wearing a Merc Charmer Outfit, and had blond hair in a ponytail, a nice face and pale skin. She was short, her head barely reaching the Courier's shoulder. She was pretty, so the Courier perked up and tucked in his shirt, under his duster.

"I'm Chloe. You're the New Vegas Cowboy, right?"

"That's me. So, are you from here or a traveller?"

"Me? I've grown up here my entire life. I'm a prospector, but I usually have to keep around this area. My dad doesn't like me straying off too far into the wastes. It's… safe here, I guess. But I really want to see more of the place, do something important. I mean, getting food's important, but I'd rather be doing something great than getting Pork and Beans for my dad, or getting the last packet of Fancy Lad Snack Cakes."

"Yeah. I used to be a courier, myself. I ran packages for the Mojave Express until I got ambushed and shot in the head. Twice. But, I got back up, hunted down my would-be killers and got my revenge. I started helping a local business-man who ran New Vegas and helped him capture Hoover Dam, and force out Caesar's Legion and the NCR."

"Yeah, I've heard of you. It must be interesting, being a powerful warlord who gets to travel the wastelands."

"I'm not a warlord. I'm a leader, I negotiate, make deals and manage resources. I lead armies, with a lot of help, of course. Speaking of which, the only guides I have are ghouls and mutants who only see the world from the dark metros. If you're looking for a job and some adventure, there's an open position for a guide."

"That sounds interesting. Maybe we could discuss it over drinks."

The Courier smiled at her, and ordered two whiskeys.

OOO

Gary sat on the top of a bus, smoking a cigarette. He sat with his three comrade Gary's, their Protectron, four dogs and another two locals who had enlisted in the NVM's new Local Soldier programme to recruit the locals into the NVM and bolster their forces. Gary slid on his Eyebot Helmet, and jumped off the bus and took out a duffel bag. He took out several bottle cap mines and placed them on the ground in a triangle formation. He looked through his binoculars, and saw the six Uptown Heights Sentry Bots they had spotted earlier heading towards him. He went inside the bus, and aimed his magnum, peering through the scope. He waited for about a minute, taking out a Nuka-Cola. He took a sip, before aiming down the scope again. The Uptown Heights Sentry Bots approached and the lead one exploded in a flash of bottle caps as the caps tore through the sentry bot's metal and destroyed it. Two more exploded, and magnum fire destroyed another. The dogs dove out of cover and tackled the fifth bot, pulling it into the ruins and ripping its wiring out. The last sentry bot fired at Gary, who rolled to the side and avoided the gunfire. One of the locals got hit and fell off his position on top of the bus, snapping his spine and killing him instantly. The second local fired a shotgun and blew out the Sentry Bot's head.

"Gary! Gary, Gary, Gary!" Gary yelled.

"Scavenge any spare wiring, metal or ammo that could be used in repairing Securitrons." The Protectron said.

The Squad moved forward and started looking for parts.

OOO

The Dark Knight sat on his throne, in front of the Lone Wanderer. They were in the community hall of an old suburbs.. The throne was a large leather armchair with three spears sticking out the back with a severed head on each. The Lone Wanderer was wearing his lucky shades and his Armoured 101 Jumpsuit. The Dark Knight was wearing a Hockey Mask pulled over his head, and wearing black power armour. The Power Armour's shoulder had several notches and 'X's carved into it, and he was wearing a cape of some sort of leather.

"So, you're the Water-Giver. What'd you want?" The Dark Knight asked, before noticing where the Lone Wanderer was staring at. "The shoulder? It's a score card. Every time I kill a ghoul or human, I add a notch. Every time I kill a Mutant, I add an X. There's over a hundred notches."

The Lone Wanderer's eyes opened, but he didn't talk.

"The cape is from the last Exile King. Or, to be more accurate, the cape is the last Exile King."

The Dark Knight chuckled, and leaned forward.

"I skinned him alive and made him into a cape. Do you like it?"

The Lone Wanderer's eyes opened wider, and he turned and walked out of the tent. Two exiles tried to stop him, but the Dark Knight laughed.

"Let him go. I'm interested in what he does next."

The Lone Wanderer left, disgusted. He had to kill the Dark Knight and wipe out the Exiles. There was no other option.

OOO

The Courier sat on the top of a ruined skyscraper, his legs hanging over the side. There were several empty bottles of whiskey scattered around, and a matress a few feet from him. Anna lay on the mattress, fast asleep. The Courier had went up here the night before, and the two had talked. Then, they had sex. Then they talked again. Then more sex. The Courier liked Anna. She was well-educated for a local, and charming.

"Are you awake?" Anna said.

The Courier turned and looked at her. Damn, she was even pretty in the morning. He briefly considered having sex with her again, but decided against it.

"Yeah. How'd you sleep?"

"Good. Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking about the New York War,"

"Yeah. Don't worry, you have the advantage. You're fighting some pretentious supremacists who think they're better than the Ghouls, Mutants and basically all non-vault dwellers and non-Brotherhood. All you need is a good form of propaganda and the locals will come in droves to fight for you."

"Yeah. I could gain a lot of support with propaganda."

"There's an old radio station just due east of here. No one uses it, so it's just collecting dust."

"Thanks. I'll send some Securitrons, and start broadcasting. I can set up another AI host with some assistance from House, like Mr New Vegas. Also, I have to ask: Do you want to come with me? I could use a guide, and you could be more than a guide if you want…"

"Perfect. Let's head out whenever you're ready."

OOO

The Lone Wanderer put on his stealth gear: a shady hat, his Operation: Anchorage Chinese Stealth Amour and grabbed a stealth boy. He activated the armour and crouched down, next to four other Paladins in stealth armour, including Paladin White. They were just outside the Exile Fort in the middle of the night, which consisted of a partially-destroyed suburbs surrounded by a rubble wall. The squad needed to break into the Exile Fort, kill the Dark Knight, poison their water supply and wipe out their food and weaponry. The Exiles would quickly fall apart from infighting over the remaining supplies. The Lone Wanderer sneaked forward, walking along the rubble wall, looking for a breach. He heard a thump, and looked up to see a huge figure climb onto the top of the wall from the inside, bare-chested and wearing a pair of Brahmin skin pants. The Lone Wanderer dropped to one knee, and stared at him while aiming his rifle. The large man groaned, before throwing his head forward and puking, covering a paladin in vomit. The man collapsed, and lay still on the edge of the wall. The Squad continued, until they found a makeshift gate made from shopping trolleys stacked up on each other and welded together. The Lone Wanderer paused by the gate, and heard footsteps. Another exile wearing a Vault 18 jumpsuit and wearing a bandanna walked, dragging a teenage woman by the hair. He unclipped several padlocks on the gate with a key ring on his belt, and pulled the gate open. He threw the girl out, and drew a pair of kitchen knives.

"When I say go, you're gonna start running. If I catch you, I'll cut you up. If you escape, you live."

"Please! I don't want to die!" The Teenager said, sobbing.

"I'll make you a deal. Get undressed and come here. Afterwards, I'll give you a fifteen second head start."

The Exile laughed darkly. The Lone Wanderer stepped forward and grabbed him by the deck. The Lone Wanderer threw him to the ground, and aimed the gun at the exile's head.

"I'm going to give you five seconds to start running. If you're in shooting range within five seconds, you won't live."

The Exile jumped to his feet and started sprinting. The Lone Wanderer counted to five, but by the time he finished counting the exile had already disappeared into the darkness of the night. The Lone Wanderer drew his rifle and turned to the gate, which was wide open. The Lone Wanderer walked through the gate, and past two houses with the roofs missing. There were four large fuel trucks to the right, with "WATER" painted on the side of each of them. The Lone Wanderer nodded to the paladins, who all unhooked a vial from their belts, containing a strain of FEV that would wipe out any Exile who had some. They climbed onto the back of the truck and opened the hatches on top. Each of them took off the caps of the vial, and slowly poured it into the water. They closed the hatches, and climbed down.

"That's the water. Now we just need to destroy any supplies we find and take out their leader."

"Understood, sir." Paladin White said.

They walked through the suburbs quickly, avoiding any passing exiles, though must were asleep in bed or passed out drunk.

"We should split up. I'll get to work destroying the supplies, I have a lot of C4 left over from a previous ambush against the NVM. You can hunt down the Dark Knight, Commander."

"Understood."

The Lone Wanderer turned, and headed off to the Dark Knight's Throne Room, followed by another paladin. They moved quickly, avoiding a group of Exiles brawling in the street by going around the backyard of a house, where two more exiles were doing jet on lawn chairs, but the paladin quickly took care of them with two swings of his super sledge. They arrived at the community hall, which the paladin rammed open, and the Lone Wanderer charged inside after. They aimed their weapons, and found themselves in the throne room. The Dark Knight was sitting on his throne next to two armed exiles armed with laser pistols, smiling, as a man and a women armed with Butcher Knives fought in front of them, wearing slave collars and rags. The man and woman turned and noticed him.

"Please! Help, they've taken us pri…" The man started, before two lasers burst out of his chest and he fell to his knees and burned into ashes. The Lone Wanderer aimed his rifle and fired, hitting one of the exiles. The Paladin took two laser burns to the chest, but charged forward and smashed the exile into the wall, killing him. The Dark Knight rose, before pulling out a large cleaver. He swung the blade several times, dicing the paladin into chunks as he fell apart. The Dark Knight laughed, and grabbed the woman gladiator.

"If you want the girl to live, drop you weapons."

The Lone Wanderer dropped his weapons, and kicked them aside. The Dark Knight threw the girl into the wall, and she collapsed. He laughed again, before grabbing her kitchen knife and throwing it to the Lone Wanderer.

"Come on, let's have some fun! Any good with blades?"

"I was the Most Valued Player in my Vault's Little League team. Bringing you to justice won't be an issue."

The Dark Knight charged forward, swinging his cleaver. The Lone Wanderer rolled to the side, slicing at the Dark Knight's side, scraping his power armour. The Dark Knight ran at him and kicked forward, knocking the Lone Wanderer over. He attempted to crush the Lone Wanderer's head with his foot, but the Lone Wanderer threw his knife, impaling the Dark Knight in the side of the face, right through the hockey mask. The Dark Knight grabbed his face and yelled, slightly muffled by the mask. He grabbed the knife by the handle and yanked it out in a spurt of blood. He charged forward and grabbed the Lone Wanderer by the scruff of his collar and yanked him up, before holding the cleaver to his throat.

"I'm going to behead you. I'll feed your body to the dogs, burn the bones to ash… AAARGH!" He screamed, and dropped to his knees. The Lone Wanderer noticed three laser burns at the base of the Dark Knight's spine. The Lone Wanderer grabbed the cleaver, swinging it. The cleaver went through the Dark Knight's neck, and the head plopped off and rolled along the floor as the body plopped to the ground. The Lone Wanderer looked up to where the lasers came from, seeing the gladiator woman holding a laser pistol.

"Thanks. What happened?" The Lone Wanderer said, picking up the dead paladin's holotags.

"They looted my town and kidnapped a few of us, and killed the rest. They made us fight for their amusement. I'm the last one left."

"Well, I have some more men. We'll get you back home in no time."

The Lone Wanderer opened the door, before hearing a loud explosion.

"That must be my men. We need to move."

OOO

Micilin, Hal, Frank, Luo, Bump, Wheels and Clanker were all down in the subways, in an old station that had been barricaded off. Hal and Frank sat on two old couches that could barely support their large, mutated bodies. Wheels and Clanker, the two guard Securitrons, paced the barricade in case of an attack. Bump, a damaged, junkyard Eyebot covered in bumper stickers, floated next to Micilin, with a tray tied to the top of its head, holding beers. Luo, a Chinese Soldier with a badly scared face from a plasma blast, sat on a kitchen chair, eating a packet of potato crisps, while Micilin, an Irish local who had signed up sat in an armchair, smoking a large cigar and taking sips of beer from bumps head. The NVM flag hang draped across the wall between the escalators, a blue circle with white stars lining it and a large white star in the middle, with red lines going down. It was the same as on the Courier's and Ulysses' Duster, and was a symbol of the Pre-War World. A smaller, Brotherhood of Steel flag, which was a winged sword stabbing into a circle with three gears, was tied around a dart board, next to another dart board of the Lone Wander's face.

"Hey, did you hear 'bout the reward money? The Brotherhood of Steel is offering forty caps for any Exile you killed, if their mask or helmet is sent in, as proof you killed them."

"Why don't any remaining exiles just send in their mask for free caps, thus funding them and letting them raid more?" Micilin said, in a soft Irish accent.

"They probably do. But the Exiles are targeting Brotherhood turf in revenge for the attack, so who could care. They're finished, anyway. Most died from infighting or poisoned water." Luo said. "Anyway, we should be more worried about the paladins. They've been making huge inroads, and pushing us back every day. They have a tech advantage against us."

"I'm sick of these troublesome conversations about death. Turn on the radio." Hal shouted.

Luo leaned over and turned on the radio, and a voice blared out.

"Hello everybody! This is the New York News Announcer, and this is the NVM News channel, the only news channel that will tell you the truth about the war, because we're all in it together, baby! I'm here today to tell you about the brave boys known as the Gary Clones. They took out two squadrons of Security Bots with help from the local dogs. In sadder news, Vault 18 Sniper attacks have increased, possibly due to less exiles attacking their supplies…"

The group slumped into their chairs and went to sleep again.


	12. The World Eater's Strike

_Hello! I'd just like to ask, because I'm wondering, whether any readers prefer the Courier and the NVM, who seem to be a grittier, crueller army, though they fight for equality and have realistic goals, or the Lone Wanderer and the Brotherhood of Steel, who are kind to the point of naivety, and have slightly supremacist attitudes. Also, thanks for reading._

The Courier sat in his command chair in the World Eater. Two Chinese Technicians worked in front of him, on the large console where the aiming of the missiles was done. They were attempting to jury-rig a hard-drive like the one the Lone Wanderer had taken. The Courier had been sitting there for hours, helping whenever he could. The Courier finished off his drink, a Nuka and Rum, and sighed. Suddenly, the console lit up momentarily, before shutting down, leaving only a small part of the console lit. The Courier jumped up, smiling.

"Did we do it?"

"We fixed the aiming mechanism for one of the missiles, but only one, thanks to the research the brains you talked about sent from the Big Mountain. It's a smaller missile, sadly, but it should be enough."

"Really? That's perfect. Call a war council, we need to pick a target to fire it at."

OOO

The Courier, Boone, Arcade Gannon, the Gary Leader, Captain Peterson, Romero, Captain Russo, Mr House in a Securitron and Anna sat around a large table with a map of New York sprawled across it.

"We should hit Vault 101." Mr House said. "We'll demoralize the Brotherhood, and anyone with friends or family in Vault 101 will leave to provide aid. We'll have a great moral victory, and they'll retreat."

"Vault 101's full of kids and non-combatants. I'm not going to send a missile in there. Plus, it'll destroy any chance of negotiations, which can still end the war if we force the paladins back." The Courier said.

"We should hit the Brotherhood headquarters. Kill all their leaders, and they'll lose the advantage. Without leaders, any army falls." Captain Russo said.

"The majority of the paladins are at their forward base in the forward subway. If we hit the main headquarters, we lose the chance to negotiate like before, and they'll still have an army of fanatics, who'll fight." Boone said. "If we hit the forward base we'll get the advantage in battle, and the chance to negotiate."

The Courier smiled.

"That's a good point. We'll hit the forward base. Winter's just starting, so we'll kill a bunch of soldiers and leave the rest to freeze to death. It's a cruel tactic, but I'd rather have a thousand paladins die than lose one of my men."

"Then that's what we'll do, commander. I will fire the missile as soon as possible."

"Perfect. With winter coming in, and the radiation that will spread through because of the strike, we should end our war-mongering and go on the defensive. The radiation shouldn't come near any of the towns and there's little enough so that most will be gone by spring, except at the remains of the forward base. We'll manage our own territories, and when spring comes around we'll be ready to continue fighting, while the Brotherhood will have frozen, starved or killed each other. We'll come out in the spring ready to kill, they'll come out in the spring ready to die."

OOO

A pair of paladins crouched in cover in the deep snow during the first snowfall, avoiding grenade fire a Securitron on a barricaded apartment balcony. One of the paladins was Tex Hunter, a robotics mechanic fort the Brotherhood, who repaired equipment, while the other was Terry O'Donnell, a dealer in the Brotherhood who smuggled in anything from chems to cigarettes to booze to gum to sugar bombs. Still, Sarah Lyons didn't stop him because he was a massive boost to morale. A grenade landed next to Terry, who rolled to the side. The grenade shrapnel tore through his armour and cut into his flesh. Terry fell into a small crater from another grenade, and hurriedly went through his pack and found a syringe of Med-X, which he stabbed into a patch of flesh where his armour was gone. Tex aimed his laser minigun and fired, smashing through the barricade, revealing the Securitron as it fired a missile. Terry was knocked into a concrete wall, cracking open his helmet. Terry coughed blood into his helmet. Tex drew a satchel of plasma grenades and chucked them onto the balcony after pulling all the pins. The balcony exploded and fell, engulfing the floor below them with wreckage and the twisted hull of a broken Securitron. Tex went over to Terry, who pointed weakly to the sky.

"I'll be find. What the hell is that?"

Tex turned and looked up, and saw a large object moving through the sky, like a meteor.

"It's heading towards the forward base. What the hell is…"

The object fell quickly, crashing into the forward base. There was a massive explosion as a mushroom cloud appeared.

"Jesus! We need to get back to base. That was a NVM Nuclear Strike from the submarine. I thought that couldn't fire. I thought…"

"Just help me up. We'll find out what happened. Let's get back to base."

He helped him get up, and they started trudging through the snow to get back to base.

OOO

The Lone Wanderer sat in the back of a Vertibird, looking over the wreckage.

"That's a badly irradiated zone. I want your power armour sealed and Rad-X taken. There's a modified spot in the helmet to keep spare Rad-X. We need to get out anyone that might have survived the assault. Paladin White and his men could still be alive." Sarah Lyons said.

"The NVM "could" surrender tomorrow, but it ain't happening." A Paladin whispered.

"Do you have something to say, McElroy?"

"No, Commander."

"Then let's move."

Two ropes dropped from the Vertibird, and the team of eight men, including Sarah and the Lone Wanderer grabbed the rope and slid down to the ground. The Lone Wanderer looked around. There nearby buildings had been reduced to rubble, but that was to be expected. The entire area was a crater, but the paladins were clearing away some rubble that led to the safer areas down in the metros, that weren't damaged to badly, though the wind sweeping through the tunnels insured there would be a lot of radiation down there, as well as dust blocking the view. The Forward Base had been located in the metros beneath. The Lone Wanderer walked slowly down the massive crater that led into the metro. He walked down the metro until he reached an area out of the reach of the nuclear strike's explosion. The radiation had spread through the tunnel quickly, and the air was badly clogged with dust. The Lone Wanderer walked up to a large metal gate with four large turrets next to it, but the missile strike had fired enough shrapnel through the tunnel to break the gate and smash the turrets to bits. Inside the fort, the group split up and began searching any survivors. The Lone Wanderer checked inside a subway train filled with beds, which were nearly all empty except two, which contained brothers of steel in their underwear. The Lone Wanderer went over to them, but they were both dead from radiation poisoning. The Lone Wanderer heard a loud bang, and turned. He found a large metal door, which he opened. Standing in front of him was a large paladin in full armour.

"We got a live one! Are you OK?"

Suddenly, the paladin ran straight at him. The Lone Wanderer rolled aside, and the paladin turned and kept running at him. The Lone Wanderer raised his rifle and yelled a warning.

"Stay back! I don't want to fire!"

The paladin continued sprinting, and the Lone Wanderer fired several shots, blowing a hole through the paladin's chest. The Paladin fell, and the Lone Wanderer pulled off his helmet to talk to him. He was met with the rotting face of a ghoul, with flesh and skin piled up around the bottom of the helmet.

"He… It's feral."

The Lone Wanderer pulled out his pistol and placed the barrel against the ghoul's head and pulled the trigger. He pulled off the tags, and turned to check out the rest of what was behind the metal door. He walked through, and down a hallway into a maintenance area that was pitch black. He passed three dead, ghoulified paladins, and briefly wondered how they died if they survived the radiation. He turned on his pip-boy light, illuminating the room.

"Raise your hands above your head, and turn around."

He looked up, and was faced with the barrel of an incinerator. He raised his line and vision, and was met with the smoking face of a ghoul, surrounded by three other ghouls, all in power armour..

"Who sent you?" The Smoking ghoul asked.

"I sent me. I'm the head of the Brotherhood here."

"I know you! You're the commander from Washington, the Lone Wanderer! Don't you recognize my handsome face? It's White. Paladin White. These are the only guys left from the boys stationed here."

The Ghoul gave a raspy laugh.

"So, are you our knight in rusty armour? Here to save our asses?"

"We need to go. I won't survive much longer in this environment. I can already feel the radiation poisoning."

"You get out. We can take our damn time. Then again, I'd rather not waste my time here. Let's go."

OOO

Sarah Lyons, the Lone Wanderer and Elder Lyons were back in the Brotherhood of Steel base, trying to figure out what to do. Elder Lyons had made the Vertibird trip down to discuss the recent attack.

"To be frank, we're screwed. We lost a hell of a lot of men in that strike, and we had a mutiny today. That girl from New Vegas, Santangelo, deserted with a squad. She headed off towards the NVM turf." Sarah said.

"I thought she hated the Courier. What the hell happened?" The Lone Wanderer asked.

"She does. She went off with the three ghoulified paladins and two other men who hate the Courier to try assassinate him. Only Paladin White stayed."

"So we have to deal with the NVM, mutinies and nuclear strikes." Elder Lyons said. "Maybe we need to pull out of New York."

"No. I'm not going to let us do that. The Courier can't be allowed to take over."

"Winter's coming in. Everyone outside is going to freeze to death, so we're going to have to withdraw as many men as possible from engagements and get underground, away from the cold. The radiation's going to spread through the desolate border between us, meaning the fight's going to be limited to the Uptown Height's Security Bots, Ghouls, Super-Mutants, Securitrons and the few paladins who we can equip with Rad-X without exhausting our supplies. If you want us to stay here we'll do it, but I need to know: Are you sure?"

"Yes. We can do this."

"OK. I'll trust you on this. Don't disappoint me."


	13. Winter

Six heavy bots trudged through the snow, marching towards the NVM territory.

"How long is this going to take? It's getting cold." A Paladin asked.

"Shut up. Just let me enjoy the silence. Actually, Higgins, you're from Vault 101, you have a Pip Boy. Turn on the radio." Veronica Santangelo said.

"There's only one radio channel within the distance, the NVM Channel."

"Turn it on, then. Bullshit propaganda is worth listening to for some music."

Higgins put on the radio, and music blared out. After about a minute, a voice came out.

"Hello, this is the New York News Announcer, and this is the NVM News channel, the only news channel that will tell you the truth about the war, because we're all in it together, baby! The Securitrons are rolling into all towns in NVM Territory, to provide protection to the locals, with help from the NYPD. Securitron Stations are being set up in the towns to allow Securitrons to charge and guard the areas, and the NVM are already designating areas to be used for farmland when springs hit. Several new crimes are being enforced, including assisting the Brotherhood of Steel, attacking NVM Soldiers and Ghoul or Mutant Discrimination. The NVM are also trading blankets and firewood to the locals in exchange for their weapons and ammunition, giving out food and clothing to the poor in the towns and Rad-Away to any towns close to the nuclear strike zone. In other news, the Brotherhood are suffering immense causalities from the nuke…"

"Turn that shit off. I'd rather not have the reminder that everyone I know is dead." One of the ghoulified paladins said.

The weather got colder, frost appearing on the power armour of the paladins. A Paladin fired his incinerator forward, and walked into the heated air.

"Don't waste fuel."

"We're all traitors to the Brotherhood. I can do whatever the hell I want."

"If you keep wasting fuel, I won't be helping you when Securitrons burst out… speak of the devil."

A group of six Securitrons rolled down the street far up the street, towards them.

"We have to move. There's an alley to the right of us, we'll go down there and find a spot to hide. Then, we keep moving."

OOO

Hal and Frank groaned as they pushed the heavy car wreckage into line with the newly formed barricade.

"Get moving! We need this barricade up before the weather gets much colder. We're sealing this section off." Roy yelled.

The Super-Mutants were teaming up to fortify the local towns by moving wreckage to make a barricade around a small town based in a skyscraper that mainly acted as a giant brothel to the city. A few prostitutes watched them work from armchairs in what used to be the town's lobby, eating steak and drinking beers. Meanwhile, the local Brothel owner was discussing plans with an NCR Sniper.

"We need to be able to keep traffic through this place frequent. The girls need business, and the robots, ghouls and mutants passing through sure as hell don't provide it. They're all sterile, and the NYPD are against prostitution."

"There's the Gary Tribe and the ex-Communists, and those recruited from the local population."

"It's not enough. We can't only have soldiers passing through. We need the local population."

"You're willing to be infiltrated by Brotherhood so you can earn so caps?"

"We'll keep tabs on those coming in. Only allow regulars or those we know as locals in."

"Fine. Just know you've been warned."

"Thank you. If you wish, we could offer you some company and rest for the night. You could set out to the coast in the morning."

"I'll take a bed, but don't send any girls."

"OK. I'll have someone show you to your room. The mutants may rest in the cheaper rooms."

"Give the mutants the best goddamn beds you have. Haven't you heard? Mutant discrimination is a crime."

Boone smiled slightly.

"Provide the boys with some water and food when they finish. Then, they'll sleep and we'll leave in the morning. The Securitrons will provide protection from the Brotherhood, so you won't have to worry. Just be careful who you trust. With the radiation and cold coming, the Brotherhood of Steel will be desperate. It'll be a pretty dangerous Nuclear Winter.

OOO

Six Securitrons drove along on their wheels, with satchels and backpacks hanging from their arms, filled to the brim with purified water and food. Two Hospital Mister Handsy's followed, ready to give medical care to the local town slums. Light snow fell, covering the tops of the Securitrons as they struggled to drive through the thick snow. At some points, the Mister Handsy's would use their flamers to melt heavily snow covered areas. They passed a pack of dogs with blue collars and the number '5' inscribed on them, chasing after a group of mole rats. The Securitrons opened fire on them with their machine guns, killing the mole rats and letting the Vault 5 dogs get their prey. The Securitrons continued, leaving the dogs behind them as they chewed into the meat. They reached a campfire in a destroyed building with thick blankets covering the windows and doorways, where several men, women and children in thick winter coats sat around it. The Securitrons drove inside and stopped.

"Hello, Sirs and Madams. We are here to offer assistance." The lead Securitron said.

"Really? Got any chems? Booze?"

"We have Fixer to help those with addictions. We also have water and food."

The three kids crowded around the Securitrons, who dispensed bubble gum and Nuka Cola among the kids. They dropped off a package containing a few litres of purified water, cram, noodles, gecko steak, two Rad-X and four stimpaks. The Mister Handsy's quickly went about healing one of them of his severe radiation poisoning and another of a sprained hand, before turning off to head to the next group of humans on the map.

"Thanks, 'bot." One of the women said, taking a sip of beer, as the Securitrons sped away.

OOO

Terry O'Donnell, now the local "sheriff" for a small town, walked along the subway, wearing power armour covered in rags to keep him warm. He lit a cigarette, and removed his helmet and stuck in a cigarette. He walked up the subway stairs to the open streets, where there was yelling.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"A fistfight broke out between a group of locals and some knights over a hidden minigun. The locals use them for hunting the larger game, while the knights say we need it for the war."

"Who started it?"

"The locals threw the first punch."

"Imprison the locals, confiscate the minigun, give the knights refused rations. What other issues are there?"

"An NVM plasma mine took out two scavengers. It must have been left from fall."

"Send armoured security bots from Uptown Heights over to search for any more bombs. What else?"

"A group of initiates were caught stealing from the town's kitchens."

"Have the ringleaders executed, the head members exiled and the minor offenders get reduced rations. What else?"

"That's it. Aside from that, we're doing well."

"Perfect. I'll round up some spare supplies and give them to the scavengers' widows if they have any, and hand out hunting rifles to the locals to allow them to hunt. The towns improving." He said, smiling. "Soon enough, the ice will thaw, and we'll get ready to fight some more."

OOO

Two NYPD Officers ran up the steel stairs of the outside of a building, trying to quickly get to the roof. A passing Securitron had taken several bullets from a sniper on the roof, and the NYPD were in pursuit.

They reached the top, and saw two figures jump across the roof to another building. The two NYPD followed, running as fast as possible before diving across the gap and rolling back to their feet and sprinting after them. There was little snow today, but the roofs were covered with ice so they went slowly. One of the figures slipped on the ice and slid to the ground. One NYPD Officer fired his assault rifle, hitting her in the back. The figure fell, lying on the ground as a pool of blood came around them. The second figure dropped to help her, but took a shot through the side of the head. The two NYPD looked over the two corpses, both in Vault 18 uniforms. One was a girl in her thirties, the other was a teenaged boy, presumably the girl's spotter.

"That's two kills. Take their weapons, and any supplies they have. We should head home quickly. It's getting cold, and I have a card game at eight."

"Yeah, let's get out of here."

OOO

The Courier sipped on a bottle of Nuka-Cola, a refreshing break from his usually alcoholic beverage. He heard Anna from their bedroom and entered. She was standing next to a Mister Handsy.

"Can you come here?" She asked.

"What's up?"

"We need to talk."

The Courier raised an eyebrow, but he sat down in a cushioned chair.

"What's wrong?"

"I was getting a medical exam from this bot. It… informed me of something."

"Are you sick? Hurt?" The Courier stood up, worried.

"I'm pregnant."

The Courier paused.

"Am I the father?"

"Yes."

"Huh." The Courier stood perfectly still, thinking. "Well, I guess I'm going to be a dad. Interesting. Let's get married."

OOO

The Lone Wanderer sat on his bed, smoking a cigar. He heard a voice from outside, and opened the door.

"Commander, we found an Eyebot attempting to enter the compound. We shut off its weapons defences, and now it wants to talk to you."

"Send it in. Check it for bombs first, then send it in."

The Lone Wanderer sat down and took a puff of the cigar, before the Eyebot entered.

"Are you from the NVM?" He asked.

"Hello, Water-Giver." The bot said in the Courier's voice. "I have a message for you. I'm sending it in ED-E here, who I hope you don't try to kill. If you do, I'll make sure to kill everything you love. I want to negotiate a truce. We've taken too many losses to continue fighting. I'll meet you at the Fuel Depot town. Bring whatever security you need, but don't try to start a fight, or the next nuke is going to Vault 101. I'll see you there."

OOO

The NVM Behemoth robot marched along the road towards its target. It peered through its electronic sights and saw a group of eight paladins hiding in cover. Two knights pushed open the main doors, and six Security Bots drove out. The Behemoth fired its forward guns, blowing two Security Bots in a blast. Two NYPD ran out from cover with their Chinese Assault Rifles and fired, blowing holes in another two bots. They rolled two pulse grenades forward, destroying the last two. The Behemoth fired several shots, blowing holes in the school. The Behemoth continued firing for several minutes, until a white flag was hung out the window.

"Come out with your hands in the air!" An Officer yelled.

A Knight and two Paladins walked out with their hands in their air. The NYPD Officers tied their hands behind their back, and tied their neck to the back of the massive Behemoth, and it started stomping down the street back to NVM Territory.

"We need to get back to base before the temperature drops. Start marching, prisoners."

OOO

In the Atlantic Ocean, a large submarine floated just under the surface of the water. Inside the command centre were five Brain Vats, containing the heads of the NCE, or New Chinese Empire.

"Shí is lost. That leaves Sikou, Leng, Zi and Jin." "The American Military captured the ship. We need to recapture it." President Meng said.

"We already have plans. Shí takes Eastern America, Sikou takes Europe, Leng takes Russia, Zi takes Western America and Jin takes Canada." Vice President Sang said.

"He's right. We stick to the plan of the Old World. We can't break away." Premier Long said.

"Without Shí, Eastern America will stand and wipe us out. We need to capture Shí's World Eater and fire its payload." Chairman Kaí said.

"Send the Legion. They'll take down the New York Army." Supreme General Chonghuan said.

"Understood. We'll gather the men, charge the solar panels, pull back the men from their posts, take the fleet towards the East Coast, and launch the Vertibirds."

"The Submarines are all spread out, waiting for the Apocalypse Date, when the vaults open and we launch the missiles to wipe out all of Capitalism. It'll take an incredibly long time to do all this. We won't be able to get it done until the end of Spring."

OOO

The Courier sat in a large black recliner, next to eight Securitrons. He was sitting next to Arcade Gannon, Mr House in a Securitron, the Gary Leader, Captain Peterson, Romero and Captain Russo. The Behemoth was behind him, Boone was on top of a fuel tanker, hidden from view and several. Four NYPD Officers stopped the locals from approaching, while a junkyard Protectron set up a large table with a map of New York to divide the territories, should a negotiation work. The Courier saw a Vertibird approaching, and land. The Lone Wanderer stepped out with a group of six paladins, and walked towards them. He was followed by the blond paladin, a man in a suit and a man in a Vault 18 Jumpsuit. They all sat down, and the Courier smiled.

"Gentlemen! It's a pleasure. Can I offer anyone a drink?"

"Yes, if you kindly would. If I may introduce myself, I am Mr Peckin. P-E-C-K-I-N, Peckin." The Top hatted-Gentleman said.

The Courier poured two glasses of wine, one for himself and the other for Mr Peckin. He took a sip, and smiled at the men.

"Let's start these negotiations, then." Mr House said. "The Boomers have fixed the Howitzer found in the Fort, and I sent it over to the Courier. They'll help reinforce the NVM, so with the nuclear strike we have every advantage. Withdraw completely from New York, and we won't hunt you do. Is anyone opposed to a peaceful ending of the war? Say aye." The Courier said.

No one spoke.

"Perfect. Now, I believe we have several options here. A complete retreat out of New Vegas by me, which I can promise you will never happen. There could be a complete retreat by you, which I believe is unlikely."

"Yeah, it's unlikely, you dirt bag piece of shit." One of the Paladin Guards muttered.

The Courier sighed.

"Yeah, just let him say that. Good leadership, Water-Giver. Our other options are a division of New York, and a Coalition between the two of us. A good start towards the coalition of the two alliances would be executing the several war criminals that have been reported. I already had the Chinese Jailor who hung three captured brothers of steel imprisoned, and had the super-mutant who beat a medic to death killed. There's reports of a Brotherhood Medic known as the Bloody Surgeon cutting up captured mutants to learn about their weak points, and there was the execution of a mutant, a Chinese Soldier and a Securitron after the hospital that I personally saw captured. A scout found the bodies, dumped like trash. Then there's that squad that blew a town to smithereens with mini-nukes, killing all the civilians inside. I'd like them brought to justice."

"These are all hateful rumours spread by the NVM. I won't address them. I want to divide New York."

"OK, then. We have several ways to do this. We could divide by the territories we already have, which I disagree with, as I could conquer much more of your land with the army. We could have the areas vote for their leader, but there are several valuable areas with no native population, so I would imply we divide it right now. We negotiate over every area, and make decisions. Agreed?"

"You can't kill my men and expect to negotiate! It's not human!" Sarah Lyons said.

"Not human? Humans aren't that different from animals when you get down to it. The only things that make us human are the ability to make sacrifices for a greater cause, which is what your men were. A sacrifice. The things that make us human are the ability to do things against survival, like making sacrifices, and our quirks. Our quirks are what make us up. I drink alcohol even though it could kill me, I have a Teddy Bear in my satchel that I've carried all my life, even though it has no value or use. Humanity isn't some valuable virtue that makes us moral. Most humans aren't good people. You included. So stop talking about your goodness and my slaughter of your men, because I'm not human."

"Alright. Any areas you must have?"

"The Mutant Territory, of course. I also need Vault 5 and the surrounding hunting grounds, the Junkyard and surrounding scavenging areas."

"I need Vault 18, Uptown Heights, the Brotherhood controlled subway, the area captured by the Republic of Dave and the areas used as bases by my men."

"Fine. Let's get to work dividing the city."


End file.
